Experience
Professional Experience
Manufacturing Technical Specialist II
Genentech
Manufacturing Science and Technology (Oceanside Site)
Manager: Fikret Kulenovic
Designed and orchestrated a diagnostic procedure to vet 100+ pH probes consequently increasing lab workflow efficiency and reducing expenditures.
Analyzed graphical representations acquired from JMP, PI Vision, and DeltaV of 3 sets of cell culture data spanning various stages of a development and pilot plant runs of a molecule.
Constructed time course profiles of 5 metabolites, 4 key process indicators, and 4 on-line controls of a novel molecule and conducted subsequent statistical analyses including one-way ANOVAs and Tukey-Kramer tests.
Performed small scale and pilot plant operations including clean-in-place operations, steam-in-place operations, media batching and preparation, bioreactor set up, passages in shake flasks and spinners, 2L and 20L soleras, monitoring cell culture trends, and assisted in pH off-gas reference curve generation and interpretation.
Assisted in protein purification set-up processes including column packing and cleaning, column integrity tests, buffer preparation, and slurry ratio calculations.
Directed the collection of ~400 upstream and downstream product retains and coordinated their international shipment to Penzberg, Germany and to Basel, Switzerland.
Coordinated on-site vendor visits to collaborate for improvements to lab equipment operations and maintenance.
Moderated team meetings and presented experimental data, outcomes, and future directions for an independently led pH probe project.
Collaborated with Process Sciences team on various lab operations including sampling, continuous trends and data monitoring to ensure efficiency and productivity during operations to optimize process performance.
Ph.D. Candidate
University of California Riverside
Department of Bioengineering | Center for Advanced Neuroimaging
Advisers: Dr. Xiaoping Hu and Dr. Megan Peters
Spearheaded R&D efforts for a bioengineering project by initiating project directions, setting timelines, and providing summaries to a cross-functional team of scientists and engineers which led to two first author publications and three publications with other groups.
Diagnosed and resolved technical issues in research projects and proposed solutions to a team of 8 members within and across 3 different departments: bioengineering, psychology, and UCR MRI Center.
Conducted quality assurance tests on a statistical model to ensure it met reliability standards.
Created SOPs for human neuroimaging data collection and analysis to maintain quality standards and protocols which were executed by 3 team members.
Catalogued human subject neuroimaging data in accordance with HIPPA and UCR IRB regulations.
Leveraged SPSS for statistical analyses of sensor-based and human fMRI big data stored in a cloud-based system over a 5-year period to evaluate outcomes and make informed decisions.
Directed the application of an individually designed Matlab- and Python-based preprocessing pipeline to research projects amongst 2 other collaborators.
Authored and vetted oral and written technical reports detailing research findings, and presented them to principle investigators, at conferences, and in peer-reviewed publications.
Perused relevant publications to make informed, up-to-date research decisions, and to generate new project directions.
Maintained thorough documentation of data analysis, research results, project plans, and project reports.
Provided leadership and technical consultation to cross-functional teams regarding experimental results and data analyses methods that were consistent with project directions.
Developed a hidden Markov model demonstrating the impact of a perturbation in the locus coeruleus circuit on attention networks during resting state.
Formulated detailed and organized notes about current and past project findings.
Created functional connectivity and BOLD signal profiles on fMRI big data (humans and rats).
Operated on various software to pre-process and model fMRI and pupillometry data.
Coached lab members with data pre-processing and analysis.
Acquired robust interpersonal and presentation skills within and across lab communities.
Operated on various large data sets: functional MRI and pupillometry data collected at UCR CAN, functional MRI acquired from HCP database.
Undergraduate Student Research
University of California, San Diego
Department of Bioengineering
Adviser: Dr. Sheng Zhong
Established reliable methods of DNA transcription and mRNA translation so that proteins expressed from engineered genes could be reliably analyzed.
Surveyed the complexity and content of transcribed RNA libraries used for next generation sequencing.
Implemented various wet-lab provedures: Qubit quantification, Nanodrop quantification, AMPure bead purification, (q)PCR, western blots, gel electrophoresis.
Performed bacterial cloning and cell culture maintenance .
Undergraduate Student Research
University of California, San Diego
Department of Bioengineering and Department of Pathology
Adviser: Dr. Prashant Mali and Mana Parast
Engaged in a senior design project titled "Modeling the Human Placenta in Vitro".
Bioprinted cells onto a scaffold to create an in vitro model of a placenta that employs fluid, nutrient, and drug transport.
Successfully engineering a fundamental in vitro placental construct.
Collaborated with three other students and two professors in order to complete the lab work and to author technical reports.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy in Bioengineering
University of California, Riverside, Department of Bioengineering
Sept. 2016 - Sept. 2021
Advisers: Dr. Xiaoping Hu (xhu@engr.ucr.edu) and Dr. Megan A.K. Peters (megan.peters@uci.edu)
Dissertation Title: Exploring Hidden Markov Models in Human Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data With Applications to the Locus Coeruleus Circuit (Dissertation; Defense Slides)
Master of Science in Bioengineering
University of California, Riverside, Department of Bioengineering
Sept. 2016 - Jun. 2018
Advisers: Dr. Xiaoping Hu and Dr. Megan Peters
Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering
University of California, San Diego, Department of Bioengineering
Sept. 2012 - Jun. 2016