Chesterfield, Missouri, United States
I am a deeply curious R&D Scientist passionate about cross-functional exchange, multidisciplinary collaboration, and scientific communication to the broader public. After gaining plant protein biochemistry research experience and completing a PhD, I continued to leverage this expertise and my technical laboratory skills to help Bayer Crop Science achieve global regulatory approvals for multiple genetically modified crop products. Strengths in time management, prioritization, taking initiative to drive projects, effective communication, project ownership, and an insatiable desire to learn have helped me bring success to the teams I worked with. In 2023-2024, I embarked on an accelerated development and learning journey at Bayer Crop Science wherein I gained a more holistic understanding of and exposure to R&D globally as well as some of our regional Commercial activities. While I am still a biochemist at heart and love deep technical topics, I find the complexities of product development and intersections between science and business to be eye-opening. Now with a strengthened conviction of the importance and ability of agricultural innovations to help address global problems around food security, energy, and the environment, I am excited to apply my technical skills, strategic thinking, and business acumen to make positive impacts in my industry and in science overall.
I just completed my PhD in Plant Biology with a Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology. I studied biochemical mechanisms underlying the development of chloroplasts using a specific thylakoid membrane protein as a tool. This protein enzymatically catalyzes signal sequence removal from proteins destined for the thylakoid lumen. I performed a variety of biochemical and molecular genetic experiments to investigate some structure-function relationships in this protein and to try to gain new insight into the functional purpose of disulfide bonds in the thylakoid lumen. My research was supported by the Plant Sciences Departmental GSR fellowship, by the US DOE Basic Energy Sciences Division, and by the Henry A. Jastro Graduate Research Award (UCD Dept. of Plant Sciences).
I worked under Professor John Labavitch and conducted research related to biofuel improvement by studying the effects of a heat-stable cell wall degrading enzyme on cell wall polymers in rice plants. DNA extractions, PCR, protein extractions, enzyme activity assays
I gave an oral presentation of a portion of the research in which I have been involved in the lab of Professor John Labavitch at the 2013 Undergraduate Research Conference.
I attended the 24th annual Western Photosynthesis conference at the beautiful Asilomar conference grounds in Pacific Grove, CA earlier this year. I presented a poster detailing the progress of my research. I received an award for best poster presentation.
I presented a poster detailing some of my research in the lab of Professor John Labavitch at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Plant Biologists. This annual meeting lasted two days and consisted of several research talks and poster presentations.