San Diego, California, United States
Cell and molecular biologist with expertise in gene editing, biochemistry, microscopy, proteomics. My core motivation as a scientist is a sense of insatiable curiosity. I believe all scientists are driven to some extent by curiosity; nonetheless, many scientific positions bottleneck creativity by limiting the scope of an individual’s curiosity to a single field tackling one specific question. A forward-thinking, fast-moving intellectual environment is more congruent with my philosophy of science; the ability to investigate the untapped potential of nature.
Viruses use diverse sets of strategies to exploit host-cell components in order to create a cellular environment that is amenable to viral replication and to evade antiviral responses. However, proteins involved in intracellular membrane trafficking, such as dynein, may be a common target for exploitation for a broad spectrum of viruses. My research, in collaboration with the Daugherty laboratory (UCSD), focuses on using evolutionary guided approaches to uncover and characterize dynein activating adaptors as novel components of innate immunity. I discovered and interrogate Ninein-Like(NINL or NLP), an intracellular trafficking protein, as a novel component of host cell innate immunity.
Collaborated with a group of graduate students from around the country to study the mechanism by which aquareovirus and orthoreovirus use fusion-associated small transmembrane (FAST) proteins to hijack host cell actin assembly to facilitate cell-cell fusion thus enhancing viral dissemination.
Analyzed the protein function and stability of a single-nucleotide polymorphism in the gene encoding the E3 ubiquitin ligase, CHIP, found in patients with Autosomal recessive spinocerebellar ataxia-16 (SCAR16). Also identified AQP2 as a substrate of CHIP.
Investigated proteomic disparities between mitochondria harvested from either healthy or Huntington's disease human brain tissues as well as Huntington's disease model striatal cell lines with or without mutant huntingtin. Proteomic disparities were further investigated with quantitative immunoblotting.