Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
• Guided students through biofabrication and cell culture techniques during scheduled and open lab hours. • Trained students to correctly and safely use laboratory equipment (biosafety cabinets, chemical hoods, CO2 incubators, fluorescent cell imagers, etc.). • Assisted with curriculum development, autoclaving/sterilization, cleaning, monitoring supply inventory, stocking shelves, purchasing equipment, managing package deliveries, preparing labs, etc.
• Organized and graded homework assignments, quizzes, and exams for BIOE 498/598. • Coordinated with course instructor to accurately report grades to ~50 students in a timely manner.
• Studied the molecular mechanism controlling sequential temporal transitions in Drosophila medulla neuroblasts to generate different neural types using both genetics and genomics approaches. • Utilized UAS-GAL4 System, RNAi knockdown, MCFO, MARCM and other molecular biology tools in Drosophila to examine the roles of specific transcription factors in regulating medulla neuroblast and GMC specification. • Dissected, immunostained, and imaged 3rd instar larvae, pupae, and adult Drosophila brains to observe the effect of transcriptional knockdown on neuron development and morphology using confocal microscopy. • Performed bioinformatic analysis of Drosophila brain scRNA-seq and snATAC-seq data using R, Python, and Bash to characterize neural markers and their roles in cell fate determination and axon targeting. • Investigated role of chromatin-associated proteins in medulla neuroblast developmental transitions. • Identified GAL4 drivers and other molecular biology tools for neuron-specific knockdown experiments. • Identified regulatory pathways connecting upstream transcription factors to downstream effector genes. • Identified “pioneer neurons” which regulate inner optic chiasm formation via the Frazzled-Netrin pathway. • Investigated regulatory network between Notch, cell-cycle, and temporal progression of neural progenitors. • Engaged in weekly Journal Club meetings to present, discuss, and critically appraise scientific literature.
Dr. Nagarajan Kannan - Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Laboratory • Created RNA velocity-assisted scRNA-seq analysis pipelines to aid the analysis of developmental lineages, bioengineered organoids/culture systems, and functional epithelial tissue regeneration (in vitro and in vivo). • Characterized the cellular composition and time-resolved dynamics of murine submandibular gland and human mammary gland tissue through single-cell analysis. • Developed bioinformatics pipelines interfacing between R, Python, Bash, and Mayo Clinic’s mforge HPC. • Identified primitive cell population in a bioengineered murine submandibular gland (SMG) culture responsible for restoration of saliva secretion upon transplantation in mice with radiation-induced xerostomia. • Created single-cell reference atlas of murine SMG through bioinformatic analysis and cross-referencing existing literature, Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI), Enrichr, Gene Ontology Resource, and Human Protein Atlas. • Utilized molecular biology tools including scRNA-seq library preparation, PCR, Gibson Assembly, FACS, cloning, preparation of competent bacterial cells, etc. to assist with experiments. • Processed human mammary and salivary gland tissues for the Mayo Clinic Living Biobank. • Presented work in weekly lab journal club meetings and to collaborators in the UK, India, Canada, and US. • Summarized work in poster presented at Mayo Clinic’s Summer Research Symposium.
• Facilitate office hours for 3 hours per week to assist students with difficult topics and foster a collaborative working environment • Guide students through in-class problem-solving sets to ensure understanding of class concepts • Organize and grade homework assignments for BIOE 360 • Coordinate with course instructors and teaching assistants to accurately report grades to ~100 students in a timely manner