Full Research Description
I grew up in southern California and attended the University of California, Irvine where I received my B.S. in Microbiology and Immunology with a minor in History and Philosophy of Science. While there, I worked in Dr. Todd C. Holmes' lab, where we investigated the consequences of weekend light shift in Drosophila melanogaster through behavior activity and clock genes expression. Weekend light shift (WLS) is a three-hour phase shift meant to simulate the weekend shift in modern human circadian rhythm caused by voluntary exposure to light cues. In this project, my honors thesis explored PER protein expression using real-time longitudinal imaging of the entire Drosophila circadian neural network.
I’m very excited to be here at Columbia where I can study new topics in a new environment. My current interests still include circadian rhythms, but I also hope to explore different fields such as host-pathogen interactions, autoimmunity, and cancer research.
