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Matriculating class of 2023
PhD student (Neuroscience) (2023 - Present)
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Kara Marshall
Collaborator: Dr. Blair Benham-Pyle
Rotation Labs
First Rotation: Dr. Steven Boeynaems
Second Rotation: Dr. Kara Marshall
Third Rotation: Dr. Jeff Yau
Fourth Rotation: Dr. Blair Benham-Pyle
Role of Mechanosensory Ion Channels in Interoception
Research Assistant (2022 - 2023)
Research Assistant (2022 - 2023)
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
PIEZO2 is a mechanically gated ion channel which opens in response to pressure. It is highly expressed in sensory organs including the skin, bladder, lungs. However, we had limited tools to visualize PIEZO2, since antibodies dont work well for pressure gated receptors.
We collaborated with the Patapoutian Lab to discover that FM1-43 which is a dye traditionally used to visualize vesicular recycling is uptaken by PIEZO2+ sensory neurons in an activity dependent manner. Using the dye, I generated a PIEZO2-dependent touch map of the mouse skin (Villarino, et al.2023)
Gustatory mechanisms of attraction towards lactic acid taste in Drosophila melanogaster and Aedes aegypti
The Gordon Lab at the Loon Lake Cell Retreat (2019)
Christmas celebration (2020) at the Matthews Lab
Master's Thesis (2018 - 2020)
Master's Thesis (2018 - 2020)
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Animals must eat to survive. However, they have to make important decisions about what to eat and what not to. Taste is an important contact cue that helps them in making these feeding choices.
During my M.Sc. at the Gordon Lab in UBC, I studied the gustatory mechanisms of lactic acid taste in Drosophila melanogaster and Aedes aegypti. Initially focused solely on the fruit flies, my project gradually veered towards understanding mosquito gustation. Lactic acid is a predominant component of human sweat, we reasoned that it could be a potential bite initiation cue for the mosquitoes. We collaborated with Dr. Ben Matthews, in his lab I started building assays to evaluate gustatory preferences in Aedes aegypti.
RNA editing catalyzed by ADAR3 in vitro
The Hundley Lab (2017)
Undergrad Internship (Summer 2017)
Undergrad Internship (Summer 2017)
Indiana University, Bloomington, United States
Funded by the IUSSTF - Khorana Program for Scholars, I got the opportunity to train at the Hundley Lab at Indiana University, where I studied RNA editing catalyzed by ADAR3 (Adenosine Deaminase Acting on RNA) in glioblastoma.
ADAR3 is a vertebrate-specific protein expressed in the brain unlike ADAR1 and ADAR2, which are ubiquitous. ADAR3 is known to inhibit adenosine (A) to inosine (I) editing in RNA, while the other ADARs catalyze it. Hence, we wanted to calculate the percentage of RNA editing catalyzed by ADAR3 and compare it with the statistics obtained from ADAR2 editing in glioblastoma cell line.
Analyzing the electrochemical parameters modulating the efficiency of microbial fuel cell
18-celled MFC with carbon as cathode and polyaniline as anode
Undergrad Internship (Summer 2016)
Undergrad Internship (Summer 2016)
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India
During my undergrad, Mechanics had been one of my favorite subjects, besides Biology and Math. I fancied the idea of researching at the cusp of the three. Luckily, I got hired by Dr. Prakash Ghosh, as a summer intern to work on the Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) project in his lab.
MFC is an electrochemical system that permits simultaneous wastewater treatment, energy production, and resource purification, utilizing an inoculation of (same or different) microbes. These microbes (usually anaerobic bacteria) degrade the substrate and generate electrons that are transferred directly or indirectly to the electrodes, to generate electricity.
Introduction to Immunology Research
Picture Credit: Pixabay
Undergrad Internship (Summer 2015)
Undergrad Internship (Summer 2015)
Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, India
In Dr. Dipyapan Ganguly's Lab, I had my first hands-on research experience (most of which were labeling vials, but still excited me)! By the end of my term, I had conducted my first ever hands-on ELISA!
I went back to the lab again in Winter 2016 to do a bioinformatics project on predicting the permissibility of putative genes in mammalian plasmacytoid dendritic cells.
I have been very blessed to have incredible mentors throughout my life who have encouraged and advised me through every successful and failed endeavor and have constantly supported my burgeoning desire to be a researcher.
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