I am an evolutionary biologist and science educator currently pursuing a PhD at UMass Amherst, where I am studying the evolutionary genetics of tomato flavor. A former middle and high school science teacher with an M.Ed., I find great joy in cultivating curiosity and connecting people to the natural world. I am particularly excited about engineering biology’s potential to solve urgent problems such as climate change, food security, sustainability, and health.
I am interested in developing novel molecular tools for manipulating genomes for medicine and synthetic biology, namely using CRISPR-based gene editing tools. Currently, I am working on using a prime editing-based DNA recorder to understand the causes of cisplatin resistance in cancer cells. I obtained my BS in Microbiology from UC San Diego, where I worked in Professor Rachel J. Dutton’s lab studying molecular interactions between various species in microbial consortia (in cheese!). After graduating, I worked in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries, spending time at Illumina, Ambrx, and Omniome (now acquired by PacBio). Outside of the lab, I enjoy hiking, camping, cooking, and having long conversations with my opinionated husky, Kayuh.