Describe your background
I was first introduced to UC San Diego's Bioengineering program when I attended the COSMOS program as a high school student. During that program I had the opportunity to learn about tissue engineering under Dr. Robert Sah. I was so intrigued and interested in bioengineering that I decided I wanted to study it in college. I received my BS in biomedical engineering from the University of Southern California before pursuing my Master's at UC San Diego.
Describe your area of research and/or your area of specialty
Gene therapy, AAV therapy, CRISPR, translational medicine
Describe your involvement within the department and UC San Diego (were/are you involved in student orgs, recreation, certificate programs, internships, etc. outside of curricular requirements?)
I was a member of BEGS and attended the few events that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Have you received any outstanding mentorship or guidance during your time in the program that made an impact on your research and/or the trajectory of your career?
My mentor and PI, Dr. Prashant Mali, gave me the opportunity to lead my own thesis project. I was also mentored by Dr. Aditya Kumar who was a post-doc in the Mali Lab and taught me all the essential lab skills and critical thinking skills needed to pursue my current position in industry. I joined the Mali Lab with very little lab skills and developed all the necessary skills during my time in the lab. I even had the opportunity to mentor an undergraduate student near the end of my thesis project.
What has been your favorite part about your graduate experience in the program?
My favorite part about the graduate program was the faculty. UC San Diego has such a wide variety of research being conducted in the Bioengineering program and the faculty behind the research are incredibly passionate and knowledgeable. I was very honored to be part of the research behind some of the most distinguished faculty that are the leaders of their fields.
Any thoughts or advice you'd like to share with prospective graduate students?
If you are looking to join a research lab, make sure to talk to the graduate students in the lab in addition to the PI. The graduate students in the lab will have the best advice on the lab culture and the science being done.
If you are an Alumni from our program, what is your current role, or what are your career prospects and plans for the future?
I currently work as an Associate Scientist at Navega Therapeutics where we are developing a gene therapy used to treat long term pain. I am responsible for the AAV manufacturing and performing in vitro screens to optimize and find our lead therapeutic candidate.