Leon entered the CCSF Biotechnology program in Fall of 2021 looking for an opportunity not only to build on his technical skills within the lab, but also inform himself more of the biotech industry and the opportunities it provides, as well as developing communication skills and the professional network necessary for a career in biotech. Prior to the CCSF Biotechnology program, Leon obtained a B.S in Cell and Molecular Biology at SFSU. During his last year of his undergrad, he wasn’t sure of what the next step for himself was especially with the pandemic that lessened any chances for an opportunity to work and practice applicable lab skills for a career in science. Leon recalled that CCSF had offered a biotechnology program that would give him an opportunity to learn and practice the technical skills necessary while also providing the professional development needed to find a job opportunity in science. 

After completing a semester of technical lab courses at CCSF he was able to apply those skills in an internship that he did at Nura Bio, a biotech company that focuses on developing neurodegenerative therapies. The internship was focused on utilizing lipid nanodiscs, a tool used to study membrane proteins, to study membrane proteins implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. Leon was able to practice the lab skills from the CCSF Biotechnology courses at his internship, such as DNA cloning and sequencing, as well as learn new ones including various protein biochemistry techniques such as recombinant protein expression and purification using chromatography.

His project involved generating membrane scaffold proteins, components of lipid nanodiscs, through recombinant protein expression and purification. Following that he generated over a dozen expression constructs for the membrane protein of interest. Leon’s contributions at his internship will be used for further downstream applications such as antibody challenge, imaging and drug binding studies. He hopes that his efforts will go towards being able to create a novel therapy for neurodegenerative disease that is more effective and generates less side effects than current therapies. 

Leon is grateful for the internship and the program as it provided him not just the technical skills needed but also transitional skills in networking and communicating with multiple great scientists and building productive professional relationships. Leon wishes to use the experiences from the program and internship to start a career in science and work on projects that will generate new innovations for human health.