WARNING:  This material may or may not be quite out of date as I am not allowed by the program at UTMB to seek outside employment and maintain my stipend.

Contact information:

School

401 Mechanic St. #105
Galveston, TX  77550
(409) 770-0915
[email protected]

Home (during the Christmas holiday)

PO Box 470
Auburn, WA  98071
(253) 833-2760
[email protected]

Objective:   To finish med school before 2006!.

Education (Undergraduate):

Research Experience:

• Current

        I now work with Dr. E. Brad Thompson at the University of Texas Medical Branch where I am working on two projects:  The first is to solubilize the ligand binding domain of a glucocorticoid receptor with the eventual goal of elucidation of the structure through X-ray crystallography.  The second project involves using adenovirus to transfect several cancer lines with mutant DNA binding domain fragments from a glucocorticoid receptor with the goal being to see how these mutations confer/eliminate glucocorticoid susceptibility.  Dr. Thompson's lab website can be found here to give a broad overview of what the lab's area of interest and other projects are working towards.

• June '99-Aug. '99

        I spent 3 months working in Dr. Aubrey Thompson's lab at the University of Texas Medical Branch where I was studying the use of various retroviral transfection systems to determine the insulin-like growth factor receptor's (IGF-1R) role in glucocorticoid resistence in lymphoid cell lines.  The lab website may be found here.

• Sept. '97-May '99:
     
  I worked in the lab of Dr. Ignacio Sanz, MD in the Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology (AIR) Unit at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

            My project was the cloning of human antibody Fab fragments, originally cloned in phage-display vectors, into mammalian expression vectors with the goal of producing full-length antibody molecules containing the Fc fragment.

• June '98-Aug. '98

        I worked in the lab of Dr. Steve Weinman at the University of Texas Medical Branch where I was studying the possibility of Chloride Channel 3 being the elusive volume-activated chloride channel.  While there, I identified and characterized a longer from of the channel previously undocumented in rat that seems to have different properties than the previously published "short" form.

• June '97-July '97

            Over these two months I worked in the company of Dr. Eric Sasso, MD in the Department of Immunology and Rhuematology at the University of Washington  (Seattle).

            The project revolved around the tracking and isolation of VH3 gene polymorphisms with the goal being to show inheritance patterns of these polymorphisms.

Laboratory Skills and Training:

• Creative PCR (skilled in primer design, sequence introduction and screening)
• DNA Hybridiaztion Techniques (in situ, on cell colonies, experience with P32)
• Gel and Protein Electrophoresis
• Bacterial and Mammalian Cell Culture
• DNA/protein Extraction
• ELISA

Computer Skills:

General Software

• Microsoft Word '97
• Microsoft Excel '97
• Microsoft PowerPoint '97
• Microsoft FrontPage '98

Biological Software

• DnaStar Applications
• Omiga DNA sequence utility
• Internet-available molecular biology utilities

Related Activities:

• Teaching assistant for General and Organic chemistry Laboratories at the University of Rochester
• Teaching assistant for freshman biology for majors and Genetics.
• Private tutor for biological sciences and chemistry at the University of Rochester
• Private tutor for biology, chemistry, and calculus at Auburn High School (Auburn, WA)

Extracurricular Activities:

• Eagle Scout
• Galveston Symphony Orchestra (Bass Clarinet and Assistant Principal Clarinet)
• University of Rochester Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble (Bass Clarinet and Principal Clarinet, respectively)
• University of Rochester Debate Union (evidence manager, '96-'97; fourth place in Northeastern CEDA regionals, fall '96)
• Member of Golden Key National Honors Society

References/Transcript:

Available upon request

Location:

A pile of sand called Galveston.

Publications:

Paper pending for work performed in the lab of Dr. Ignacio Sanz, MD.

Paper pending for work completed with Dr. Steve Weinman.