Irvine, California, United States
I began my career in infectious disease research with a call to the director of the Malaria Program of the Naval Medical Research Center at his home in Washington, DC. It was also late in the evening. Why did he pick up the phone and entertain questions about malaria research from a junior undergraduate? I can't say, but it started a domino effect that brought me to Silver Spring, MD to learn preclinical malaria vaccine development, then to London to study control of infectious diseases, to Tanzania to cut my teeth in clinical field operations, to Barcelona to learn malaria immunology in endemic pediatric populations, to Mozambique as part of a clinical trial team and a clinical immunology lab and to California to use cutting edge technology for biomarker discovery. My work is dedicated to achieving health solutions that can improve the lives of millions, especially the most vulnerable.
Responsibilities: Develop business strategy and scientific agenda with CEO, CFO/COO and business development consultants. Interact with clients, collaborators and key business partners. Expand ADI technologies, service offerings and intellectual property portfolio. Present platform technology and research findings on behalf of ADI at conferences and stakeholder meetings. Lead company initiatives for funding and internal R&D. Principal Investigator for selected lines of research. Perform project management duties for selected projects.
Responsibilities: Oversee project management team and day-to-day operations. Attend regularly scheduled business strategy meetings with CEO, CFO and business development consultants. Review and evaluate personnel performance and make recommendations to executive management. Interact with clients, collaborators and key business partners. Expand ADI intellectual property portfolio. Present platform technology and research findings on behalf of ADI at conferences and stakeholder meetings. Lead company initiatives for grant applications and internal R&D. Perform project management duties for selected projects. Malaria specialist. Lead data analyst for malaria and pneumococcus areas of research.
Responsibilities: Project management of contracts for research and development using the ADI protein array platform. Acting malaria specialist. Provide study design consultation to researchers and clients. Assist in grant writing for clients seeking funding for protein array studies. Perform Expert Statistical Analysis (ESA) for clients in need of statistical analysis support. Expand ADI patent portfolio through biomarker discovery and submission of patent applications. Current areas of project management include: Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Steptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA/MSSA), Epstein Barr Virus, Borrelia burgdorferi, Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis & Mycobacterium tuberculosis Reporting to: Dr. Xiaowu Liang, President/CEO & Ms. Angela Yee, COO/CFO
Responsibilities: Development and optimization of CRESIB B-cell immunology platform (multicolor flow cytometry and ELISpot), CRESIB Plasmodium falciparum multiplex antibody-based immunity assays (Luminex), partially responsible for developing and optimizing CRESIB growth inhibition assays against P. falciparum blood-stage parasite development. Performed studies on serological estimates of malaria transmission intensity by antibody measurements during community and hospital-based surveys. Performed feasibility studies and validation of flow cytometry-based methods for measurement of parasitemia in African clinical trial settings. Conducted field studies in Manhiça, Mozambique for malaria vaccine-related projects. A principal architect of successful NIH R01 and European FP7 grant proposals to study immune correlates of protection for the RTS,S malaria vaccine in the context of the Phase III efficacy trial. Reporting to: Dr. Carlota Dobaño & Dr. Pedro Alonso
Responsibilities: Coordinated humoral immune assays (ELISA, IFAT) for vaccine pre-clinical studies in murine and swine models. Performed a study in a malaria outbreak among a deployment of U.S. Marines assessing antibody responses to Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein as an indicator of malaria exposure. Supported T-cell studies processing mouse and swine lymphocytes for ELIspot and intracellular cytokine staining. Performing spotted microarray and analysis on a murine T-cell study looking at genomic profiles of immunologically related host genes for elucidation of immune mechanisms critical to protection against P. yoellii challenge and immunological memory. Aided in data processing for members of the Malaria Program by programming visual basic macros and templates to facilitate analysis of large datasets. Reporting to: Dr. Denise Doolan
Two internships (May - Aug 2003 & Dec - Jan 2003) Responsibilities: Conducted ELISA against five Plasmodium falciparum antigens targeted by the PfCSLAM vaccine in swine plasma to test antibody responses with various vaccine delivery systems. Assisted in the evaluation of molecular vaccine technologies (Agile Vaccines) for their ability to generate antigen-specific cell-mediated immune responses, antibody responses, and protective efficacy, in a murine model of malaria. Assisted in development of new assays for assessing the efficacy of candidate vaccines and for predicting anti-malaria immunity in murine, and swine animal models. Performed in vivo immunizations (IM, ID, IV, SQ, IP) with a range of vaccine technologies, including plasmid DNA, poxvirus, adenovirus, and VEE replicons, in homologous and heterologous immunization regimens. Harvested organs (spleen, liver, PBMCs) for in vitro immunological assays. Conducted T-cell cytokine (IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-5 and IL-10) and antibody assays to evaluate cell-mediated and humoral immune response. Collected blood smears and identified presence or absence of Plasmodium blood-stage parasites to evaluate sterile protection. Provided support in development of novel DNA-based vaccines using molecular techniques. Assisted in processing and analyzing data for presentation and publication. Reporting to: Dr. Denise Doolan