Ellyssa Castillo

Ellyssa Castillo spent her freshman year of high school enrolled in Foster High school’s Intro to Biotechnology course. Besides learning how to use various lab equipments, she also participated in many different studies; one of which is the yEvo project. The yEvo project is a 7-week long investigation that started around the end of April 2022 and ended around the beginning of June 2022. During this lab, Ellyssa specifically observed how her strand of yeast survived and evolved in an environment that progressively increased in Fungicure concentration. To conclude her study, Ellyssa was able to produce a population of yeast that was more fit than the ancestors, and ultimately learn about how mutations in organisms impact how it interacts with its world. 

Current Projects

Currently, Ellyssa Castillo is enrolled in Foster Highschool’s Advanced Biomed course. Here, she is working on exploring the world of Bacteriology and Cell Culture by solving calculations to make the right concentrations of media. Using the media she makes, Ellyssa plans to perform a Kirby-Bauer Test in order to learn more about bacteria’s susceptibility to different antibiotics. With luck, Ellyssa hopes to learn about how to use a Flow Cytometer as well as understand how it functions. With her acquired skills in biotechnology, she wants to be able to make her own questions and use scientific procedures to find her own answers.

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