Currently Seeking Positions

Biomedical Scientist

Wake Forest University, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center

The Wake Forest Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) is one of 33 highly collaborative ADRCs across the US funded by the National Institute on Aging to focus on research, education and potential treatments aimed at preventing or slowing Alzheimer’s disease. The Wake Forest ADRC has a special focus on early intervention and understanding the role of disorders such as hypertension and diabetes in Alzheimer’s disease. The ADRC provides resources to scientists at Wake Forest and other institutions to facilitate Alzheimer’s disease research. I worked with internal and external researchers and collaborators, to coordinate a variety of research activities for the WF ADRC and provide administrative support to an interdisciplinary research team, including tracking and management of metrics related to the shared resources of the WF ADRC, support for center grant renewal and reporting to the NIH and other agencies, center communications and advertising, coordination for educational seminars related to Alzheimer’s disease.

Research Administration Coordinator

University of Rhode Island

Research focus – contribution of thrombin to microvascular dysfunction in  Alzheimer’s disease (AD). At URI, in the laboratory of Dr. Paula Grammas, I delineated the pathway of hyperglycemia-induced endothelial dysfunction via thrombin activation in brain microvascular endothelial cells, relevant in AD. I also:
-Demonstrated disruption of mitochondrial dynamics by thrombin.
-Explored liver-brain connections in Alzheimer’s disease.
-Studied hypoxia on endothelial stress and its consequent induction of microglial stress.
Techniques and skills:
Cell culture, experimental design, assay planning and modification according to the need, performance of cell viability, western blot, zymography, microscopy, ELISA and other assays as needed to delineate the pathways contributing to thrombin-induced dysfunction of human brain microvascular endothelial cells, supervision and training of graduate students and junior lab members, approval on lab orders, data analysis, presentation and publication.

Post Doctoral Associate

University of Florida

At the University of Florida, Dept. of Anatomy and Cell Biology, in the laboratory of Dr. Boulton, I worked on pathways relevant in Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). The projects I worked on aimed at the removal of cellular aggregates called Lipofuscin in human Retinal Pigment Epithelial (RPE) cells by targeting the Autophagy pathway. The RPE cells affected in AMD are a single layer in each eye that are critical in keeping the retina, and therefore vision, intact and functional. Using human donor RPE as well as the ARPE-19 cell line, I studied some of the mechanisms of formation of Lipofuscin and means for prevention and removal. Utilizing fluorescence microscopy to monitor size and number of autophagosomes, demonstrated the decrease in autophagic efficiency in AMD and confirmed this using FACS and Western blotting. With Dr. Boulton and others, I co-authored an invited review, a book chapter and several peer-reviewed publications, and  presented findings at Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual meetings. Techniques and Skills: Cell culture, experimental design, performance of cell viability, transfection, fluorescence microscopy, cell preparation for FACS analysis, western blot, ELISA, autophagy assays and other assays as needed to delineate the role of the autophagy pathway in contributing to accumulation of lipofuscin in the RPE cells, supervision and training of graduate students and junior lab members, approval on lab orders, data analysis, presentation and publication.

Post Doctoral Research Associate

Experienced biomedical researcher with background in human age-related diseases (AD and AMD) and expertise in mammalian (including human) cell culture under BSL2/3 conditions, cell-based, molecular and biochemical assays, microscopy, image and data analysis, NIH and CDC biosafety guidelines, following GLP and GDP requirements.

Effective communicator, self-starter and problem solver, collaborated with senior team members and trained juniors to achieve results as a team within required timelines.

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