I enrolled in the CCSF Biotechnology Program in March of 2021 which will be completed May 2022. 

In the 1980s, my father got a virus that affected his heart causing life threatening cardiomyopathy. Heart transplants when they were just starting to become common, but there was a high risk for rejection. His body rejected the organ and he passed less than two years later. His struggle with heart failure sparked an interest in medicine that led me to pursue a career in the medical field after earning a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley. I earned associate degrees in Registered Nursing, Chemistry and Natural Science from the College of Marin while in the nursing program I gained clinical experience rotating through medical/surgical, neurological, cardiac, mom/baby, and mental health units throughout the Bay Area as well as a preceptorship in neonatal intensive care at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. My work experience spans child and older adult care, salon management, computer technical assistance, interior design and construction which allowed me to develop critical workplace skills such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, customer service, planning and organization. Most recently, I worked for the County of San Mateo with older adults struggling with mental illness many of whom also had concurrent health issues, primarily diabetes, high blood pressure and CPOD. 

Working in the medical field gave me a better appreciation for the need for effective treatment options and drove me to enroll in the CCSF Biotechnology program to make a career change to biotechnology so I can be the forefront of medical innovation. At CCSF, I am expanding my knowledge and skills in basic laboratory techniques, ELISA, PCR, qPCR, Western Blot, mammalian cell culture stem cell technology as well as GLP and GMP. Additionally, I learning biotech workplace skills like networking strategies, professional development, and effective communication.

I completed my CCSF Bioscience Internship at Cel Analytical which uses microbiology, molecular biology and cell culture to test environmental samples. The lab provides laboratory microbiology services for routine monitoring of water, wastewater, and biosolids to ensure that their clients comply with the EPA requirements and the California Department of Public Health. Cel Analytical also participates in microbial source tracking for pathogen identification and assays for cytotoxicity of biological contaminants in environmental samples. Enteric viruses replicate in the gastrointestinal tract and spread easily through fecal-oral routes. They cause a range of waterborne illnesses through exposure with contaminated water. In the United States, thousands of outbreaks occur every year posing a huge threat to public health. My internship project focused on identifying and quantifying an enteric virus outbreak at a university from wastewater samples. I performed virus purification and concentration of wastewater samples, nucleic acid extraction, qPCR and RT-qPCR to identify and quantify the virus causing the outbreak.