Hi there, my name is Ritchlynn Aranha. I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Yarmarkovich Lab and made my big move to New York City from Melbourne last October (just in time for celebrating Halloween!!). My journey to becoming a postdoc began in India, where I completed my B.Tech in Biotechnology, with a key interest in cancer vaccine discovery. This interest led me to Australia, to the lab of Prof Anthony Purcell, where I completed PhD in Biochemistry with an interest in understanding the antigen presentation mechanism in cancers.

My research at the Yarmarkovich lab involves discovering novel peptide targets in solid tumours for peptide-centric CAR-T cell therapy. If we ever converse about my work, I apologise for the number of times I use the word peptides😄.

Outside of being a scientist, I enjoy the NYC jazz scene, play in the APA pool league, exploring NYC on a CitiBike (my longest bike ride was from Flushing to Manhattan, albeit on an electric bike), and playing with my 5-year-old cat, Madison (my friends found her at Madison Square Park, and of course we had to name her Madison). 

I also enjoy trying out different cuisines available in NYC and good coffee (a latte with milk is amazing). Unfortunately, I haven't found a good coffee spot yet🥲. I also like to spend time with my friends exploring the different bars of NYC, there are so so many here.

Moving to NYC was a bit stressful for me, as I'm a social butterfly and don't have any family or friends here. I was quickly made aware of the PDA's regular events at NYUGSOM, and decided to attend the Tuesday coffee hour, where I discovered a tight-knit postdoc community that helped me make friends, build a sense of community in NYC, explore interesting science, and foster collaborations. The PDA helped me when I first came here, and I would love to give back to this amazing community.

To me, the role of the PDA council is to bring together this international community of 500+ postdocs from different fields of interest and backgrounds, allowing them to share ideas, experiences, form new connections, and explore possible future collaborations. As a PDA council member, I have a few goals:

1. Focus on concerns of postdocs, ranging from salary benefits, healthcare, visa issues, and housing, ensuring that new and old postdocs have a comfortable transition into whatever role they have at NYU.

2. Create events for postdocs to interact with scientists in industry and academia to identify alternative career options.