Research

During the summer of 2017, I researched bispecific antibody immunogenicity at the University of Washington through the PSSDP.  I synthesized, purified, and fluorescently tagged mAbs and bsAbs from HEK cells and analyzed their aggregation behavior in FBS.  I quantified mAb and bsAb interactions with blood proteins to predict whether bsAbs could diminish immunogenicity in serum.  To run these analyses, I transfected HEK cells with the gene that produced bsAbs.  After verifying the cells made the bsAbs, I purified and fluorescently tagged the bsAbs for FCS analysis.  I presented my work in the UW Summer STEM Collaboration Symposium.

During the summer of 2016, I researched antimicrobial SMP biomaterials in a pilot project at Texas A&M through the USRG program.  I synthesized and characterized cinnamic acid-based antimicrobial SMP foams as part of a pilot project.  I created foam formulations that behave like standard SMP foams but inhibit bacterial infections.  In addition to material science characterization, like DSC, SEM, pore morphology, and density, I tested their antimicrobial efficacies with E. coli bacterial assays.  I presented my work at the LAUNCH Undergraduate Summer and the USRG poster session,  where my poster won 3rd place.  In 2017, we published our work in ChemPhysChem–you can read the journal article here!