Andy Liao

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Meet UCLA senior, Andy Liao, who is majoring in Biology. Andy recently published his research titled, “BK Channels Regulate LPS-induced CCL-2 Release from Human Pulmonary Endothelial Cells” on American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology.

Andy currently works in Dr. Schwingshackl’s lab in the Department of Pediatrics at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He is also currently a scholar in our Undergraduate Research Scholars Program.

How did you first get involved in your research project?

I joined Dr. Schwingshackl’s laboratory during Winter of 2019 with a limited background in basic laboratory skills and a strong resolve to gain exposure to the academia research field. Under the tutelage of my Principal Investigator, Dr. Schwingshackl, and his Assistant Research Scientist, Dr. Tatiana Zyrianova, I refined my data analysis and laboratory skills, particularly with running Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISAs). My research productivity culminated in a co-authorship on an original research paper titled “BK Channels Regulate LPS-induced CCL-2 Release from Human Pulmonary Endothelial Cells.” Since my involvement in this research project, I’ve developed an interest in the distribution and pathology of acute respiratory distress syndrome in pediatric and geriatric populations, and a passion for contributing to the medical field by studying science at the microlevel.

 

How would you describe your research experience at UCLA?

My research experience at UCLA is best characterized as a constant upward trajectory of learning and growth in both the professional and personal sense. I started my research journey mostly maintaining cell culture by feeding, splitting, and seeding cells. However, during this past year I’ve acquired several important laboratory skills including gene and protein expression assays, immunofluorescence microscopy, and fluorescence-based methods of ion current detection. From this experience, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the inner-workings of academia research and learned the importance of organization, attention to detail, and fluid teamwork – virtues that will ground me as I pursue a path in medicine.

 

What is one piece of advice you have for other students thinking about getting involved in research?

I would suggest that students approach getting involved in research with a growth mindset. Apply to academia or clinical research positions and determine if the work environment fosters your individual learning. In addition, I’d advise to proactively make an effort in understanding the larger purpose of your laboratory responsibilities and experiments. View your day-to-day in the laboratory through the lens of what you can learn to maximize what you can gain from your research experience.

 

What are your future career goals?

I am on the pre-medical track, aspiring to be a pediatric physician. Currently, I am searching for job opportunities for my gap year and preparing to apply to medical schools this upcoming cycle. Getting my medical degree is my top priority, but in the future, I plan on expanding my areas of expertise to encompass various different disciplines. My goal is to also branch off into clinical research, to witness firsthand how the skills I’ve learned in academia research translate to the clinical setting. Additionally, I plan to get a master of business administration in healthcare and learn more about Eastern Medicine, so as to incorporate a more holistic approach in my practice. Lastly, after accomplishing all of these aforementioned career goals, I plan to focus on teaching during the later years of my life.

Roni Touboul

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Meet Roni Touboul, a UCLA senior majoring in Microbiology, Immunology, & Molecular Genetics. Roni recently published two papers titled, “YY1 expression and PD-1 regulation in CD8 T lymphocytes” in ScienceDirect and “Defective Natural Killer Cells in Melanoma: Role of NKG2D in the Pathogenesis and Immunotherapy” in Critical Reviews in Immunology.

Roni currently works in Dr. Benjamin Bonavida’s lab in Microbiology, Immunology, & Molecular Genetics.

How did you first get involved in your research project?

As a freshman in high school, I developed a passion for research and it became a dream of mine to one day “cure cancer.” However, it was my interest in immunology once I started college at UCLA that drove me to begin searching for research in the Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics (MIMG) department. After emailing some professors whose research peaked my interest, I began doing research with Dr. Benjamin Bonavida and quickly realized that this was something I could see myself doing in the future. With the help of Dr. Bonavida I have learned about the specific mechanics of cancer and cells, expanded and refined my ability to critically analyze data and research from related papers, mastered search engines such as Google Scholar and PubMed, and learned to extrapolate data to create my own figures in scientific papers. Through this experience, I was able to continue doing research on cancer related topics like the one I am working on now that explores the question of how RKIP regulates Onco-T cell immunotherapy.

 

How would you describe your research experience at UCLA?

I would describe my research experience at UCLA as extremely fulfilling in that I gained a wealth of knowledge and a mentor in the process. Both of which have been incredibly rewarding. I was able to see firsthand the multitude of opportunities undergraduates have available to them and personally utilized opportunities to publish studies, showcase my work, and apply new skills I have learned. In the process, I have become a better reader, writer, and critical thinker which are all skills that will take me further in both my professional and personal life. All in all, my research experience at UCLA is an excellent catalyst to achieving my post-graduate goals.

 

What is one piece of advice you have for other students thinking about getting involved in research?

My singular piece of advice is to follow your passions. When met with two research options, the competitive atmosphere at UCLA, and other universities like it, can lead you to pick the one that is the “better” resume builder. However when you are researching a topic you are passionate about not only will you be more excited to learn and do the work, but you will find that the research will be easier to do. Furthermore, I would also advise students to take the time to make sure their capabilities will align with what they are asked to do. In other words, not only should students research a topic that they’re passionate about, but they should look for a lab that, for example, matches their time commitments and capabilities.

What are your future career goals?

Immediately following graduation, I want to pursue a career in laboratory research. I want to take the time to perfect my research abilities and learn more about how I can conduct my own research in the future. After this I believe that I will best be able to apply my skills by attending medical school and specializing in general surgery. A dream of mine would be to take these skills abroad and continue doing research so I can fulfill both my passions of research centered and patient centered work. I aspire to be a doctor that helps underserved communities in both the lab and the hospital.

Melinda Berman

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Meet Melinda Berman, a UCLA senior majoring in Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Environmental Science. Melinda recently presented her research at an AGU meeting and was a recipient of the Outstanding Student Presentation Award (OSPA). The OSPAs are awarded to students for outstanding presentations of research in Earth and space science.

Melinda is currently also an Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP) scholar.

 

How did you first get involved in your research project?

I met my advisor, Dr. Pablo Saide, during a field campaign studying wildfires that I participated in during a summer internship in 2019. I worked with him on the forecasting team for the campaign and have continued working with him ever since. My research project is developing a novel algorithm quantifying burn area of wildfires from satellites to help better predict smoke emissions.

How would you describe your research experience at UCLA? 

My research experience at UCLA has been enriching and incredible! It has given me a new passion for wildfire research and understanding the role that wildfire plays in our world. Additionally, I have learned that I want to be a professional research scientist. My research experience has taught me how to have perseverance and to be a critical thinker.

What is one piece of advice you have for other students thinking about getting involved in research?

Have confidence in yourself! It can be really intimidating to reach out a professor you want to work with, but you can do it. Even if you think you might not hear back, you should reach out because you don’t know what opportunities that professor or researcher might have for you. And even if they don’t have an opportunity for you, they might be able to guide you to another one. Having confidence in yourself will also be important when you obtain a research position. It will allow you to come to your advisor with opportunities and ideas that can help push your research even further.

What are your future career goals?

I’m planning on attending graduate school in the fall with the goal of obtaining my PhD in meteorology or atmospheric sciences. In graduate school, I hope to research severe storms and related hazards like tornados. After graduate school, I want to be a research scientist for the federal government or at a university.

Soumya Ravichandran

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Meet Soumya Ravichandran, a UCLA senior majoring in Psychobiology. Soumya was was able to present her research at the Obesity Society Obesity Week 2020 conference. Recently, she was also published as a first author in Scientific Reports for her paper titled, “Alterations in reward network functional connectivity are associated with increased food addiction in obese individuals.”

Soumya has been conducting research as part of Dr. Arpana Gupta’s lab in the Division of Digestive Diseases in the UCLA Department of Medicine.

 

How did you first get involved in your research project?

While I had some exposure to research in high school, it was my interest in neuroscience that propelled me to join my current lab during my freshman year of college under my PI, Dr. Arpana Gupta. During my first few quarters in the lab, I spent my time learning the basics of neuroimaging modalities and performing literature reviews on the brain-gut axis. As I became more acclimated with the lab, my PI encouraged me to shadow another student who was researching sex differences in resting state connectivity in obese individuals. It was through this experience that I became fascinated with exploring the neural correlates of food addiction across males and females. With the help of my PI and research mentors, I decided to pursue this independent research project through the next year with the goal of finding sex-specific connectivity differences in individuals with food addiction that could clinically contribute to the variability seen in their response to diet interventions.

How would you describe your research experience at UCLA?

Extremely rewarding. Coming to college, I had no idea the extent of opportunities that undergraduates would be exposed to. With every step of the way in my project, my research mentors and fellow students have offered me such a strong support system by always offering new insights and constructive solutions to my research efforts. I am also extremely grateful to my PI for her constant encouragement, without which I would not have been able to experience such enriching opportunities such as presenting at a national conference or publishing a manuscript. In addition to deepening my own knowledge, being involved in research at UCLA has allowed me to grow as a writer, reader, and independent thinker; all skills that will carry with me onto future endeavors.

What is one piece of advice you have for other students thinking about getting involved in research?

Finding a lab that complements your research interests is incredibly important. Many students often jump into a lab for the sake of a resume boost or simply for the eagerness to get involved in a research project. However, rushing into a lab that you may not be fully interested in often leads to burnout or discouragement when faced with minor setbacks or difficulties. Taking the time to learn about the lab’s work and mentally checking if it is the right fit for you, prior to joining, can benefit you in the long run by making significant strides in your research much easier to achieve.

What are your future career goals?

I plan to attend medical school and pursue my goal of becoming a doctor after completing my undergraduate degree at UCLA. However, through this path, I plan to continue my research involvement and hopefully be able to translate the clinical implications of my research to create tangible improvements in patient care. Prior to my college, I had always thought of a career in medicine and one in research as two mutually exclusive paths. However, I now realize the interconnectedness of these two fields and the imperativeness of research efforts in order to improve the future of medicine with regards to targeted interventions, personalized medicine, and novel therapeutic techniques.

David Chung

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Meet UCLA senior, David Chung, who is majoring in Applied Mathematics and minoring in Biomedical Research. David was selected to present at the 2021 Harvard National Collegiate Research Conference, the largest student-run conference in the nation. His poster was titled, “Chemogenetic modulation of parvalbumin-positive interneurons to rescue circuit defects in developing somatosensory cortex and tactile defensiveness in the Fragile X mouse.”

David currently conducts research in Dr. Carlos Portera-Cailliau’s lab in the Neurology department at David Geffen School of Medicine.

Read David’s interview with us below:

How did you first get involved in your research project?

Coming into UCLA, I had a number of interests, but I was especially fascinated with neuroscience. Wishing to learn more about this subject, I discovered that one of the most effective ways to learn was through direct exposure, and thus I sought an experience within research. Through the Biomedical Research Minor, I was introduced to Dr. Carlos Portera-Cailliau whose lab researches Fragile X Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. I was not only interested in the neuroscience behind autism disorders, but also drawn to this research due to my family history, as I have a cousin with autism. Because of this intersection of my interests, I joined the lab in 2019, where I continue to contribute to an ongoing project. My work specifically focuses on understanding the network level activity of neurons in a Fragile X mouse model, and how modulating specific groups of cells may produce cellular and behavioral changes.

How would you describe your research experience at UCLA?

My research experience at UCLA has been enriching and especially helpful in shaping my future career goals. I discovered a passion for research that I would have never known, had I not taken the first steps to become involved in it. It has taught me a number of technical skills, such as scientific writing, surgeries, and imaging techniques, and most importantly, how to think scientifically and logically. The ideas and concepts we may learn in biology or neuroscience classes become the necessary background material, as research helps me cultivate a more creative approach to solving real world problems. I often thought of what “the real world” may be, and I realized in my experiences in research, this is exactly that. As a future researcher, I will be able to develop ways to understand mysteries in science and tackle new questions that may arise every day. My experience in research at UCLA has been one of the most important factors in defining my future.

What is one piece of advice you have for other students thinking about getting involved in research?

The most important aspects of research are a curiosity of the world around you and the drive to answer questions. If you are truly interested in understanding a certain field or answering a certain question, I implore you to first read as much as you can about the topic, then find someone you can learn even more from. The internet is a wonderful place to start to understand the necessary background for a certain subject, and professors are also excellent resources for finding avenues into research. A genuine passion shows clearly, and with that I encourage you to reach out to researchers to ask to talk and learn more about the field you are interested in, and you may find yourself with a great research mentor.

What are your future career goals?

I wish to pursue a career as a physician-scientist. After graduation, I intend to gain more research experience in other fields of study with neuroscience. I then intend to apply to MD-PhD programs, where I hope to obtain a PhD in Neuroengineering or Computational Neuroscience. Eventually, I hope to specialize in Vascular Neurology or Movement disorders as a physician, and lead a lab at an academic institution. Currently, my new interests direct me to research Brain Computer Interfaces, and one day I hope to be able to see the applications of my research in the clinical setting.

Kelly Huang

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Meet UCLA junior, Kelly Huang, who is majoring in Biology. Kelly recently had her abstract accepted and will be presenting at the California Society of Plastic Surgeons 2021 Symposium. Her abstract is titled, “Developing the Psychosocial Growth Chart: Prospective Longitudinal Psychosocial Functioning of Children with Craniofacial Anomalies.”

Kelly currently works in the lab of Dr. Justine Lee, at David Geffen School of Medicine, who specializes in Plastic Surgery and Pediatrics.

Kelly is also currently a part of the URC-Sciences’ Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP).

How did you first get involved in your research project?
I was shadowing in the operating room during the summer after my freshman year when I serendipitously observed a surgeon repurpose abdominal tissue to perform a breast reconstruction for a woman who had a mastectomy due to breast cancer. I became fascinated with the potential of reconstructive surgery to transform someone’s quality of life and started looking for opportunities to learn more about the field. Fortunately, during my study abroad at Yonsei University in South Korea, I had the amazing opportunity to shadow a reconstructive surgeon at the Severance Hospital. After learning more about the specialty, I returned to UCLA and reached out to Dr. Justine Lee at the David Geffen School of Medicine to study the intersection between surgical care and psychosocial functioning. It has been a transformative experience working under Dr. Lee’s guidance alongside supportive and inspiring medical students to evaluate the longitudinal psychosocial development of children with craniofacial anomalies to improve their standard of care.

How would you describe your research experience at UCLA?
Conducting research at UCLA has been essential in shaping my understanding of science and medicine and my career aspirations. I’m always thinking of how lucky I am to have such opportunities to work with amazing mentors and peers, many of whom have been important role models in my decision to pursue medicine and research. I have also learned so much from these experiences that extended beyond technical lab skills to other crucial skills like teamwork, communication, and critical thinking. It’s also incredibly enriching to explore the wide range of research activities, such as attending conferences, mentoring younger students, and receiving professional guidance.

What is one piece of advice you have for other students thinking about getting involved in research?
Find a topic you’re really passionate about, and don’t hesitate to reach out to the researchers in the field. It’s extremely important to be personally invested in the research you’re doing, as it helps you realize why it’s worth spending so much time working to discover novel mechanisms and solutions. It’s not always an easy process, but it’s a valuable experience that will drive you to grow both personally and professionally.

What are your future career goals?
I’m still exploring different career paths, and my current research has been a wonderful opportunity for me to immerse in the intersection between science and medicine. In the future, I would like to continue conducting research to improve quality of life and medical treatments, as well as directly provide these treatments to others.

Jakob von Morgenland

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Jakob von Morgenland is a senior majoring in Neuroscience and double minoring in Biomedical Research and Applied Developmental Psychology. He is currently conducting research in Dr. Sharmila Venugopal’s lab, in the department of Integrative Biology and Physiology.

Jakob recently published a first-author paper in the Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience titled, “Hill’s Model for Muscle Physiology and Biomechanics.”

Read Jakob’s interview with us below:

How did you first get involved in your research project?

My first quarter at UCLA, I took LS30A with Dr. Sharmila Venugopal; I remember during the first lecture, she was discussing her research in neurodegeneration and I was immediately enthralled. Near the end of the quarter, I asked to join Dr. Venugopal’s lab, and I began learning experimental and computational research techniques. However, over the course of my 4 years in the lab, I have taken a much greater focus in conducting computational neuroscience research. My published work is a continuation of a larger study creating an in silico model of a basic neural reflex circuit to investigate how neurodegeneration causes biophysical changes in the properties of neurons and muscles.

How would you describe your research experience at UCLA?

Before coming to UCLA, I did not really have a concept of what scientific research was; in fact, I was planning on attending a university to study musical performance but had to change my career plans due to personal issues. When reevaluating my career options, I found this indescribable interest in neuroscience; I decided to attend UCLA majoring in neuroscience to better explore the field. My primarily computational research experience in Dr. Venugopal’s lab, as well as my clinical research studying schizophrenia in Dr. Yee-Bradbury and Dr. Miller’s lab, have developed my passions and helped guide me towards pursuing an MD/PhD program post-graduation. To put it simply: research at UCLA has been enriching and eye-opening to what matters most to me.

What is one piece of advice you have for other students thinking about getting involved in research?

Before reaching out to potential mentors, do your own individualized research! UCLA offers opportunities to interact with thousands of experts in a vast variety of fields, which may feel overwhelming at first. Ask to meet with mentors whose research most interests you to discuss their research; this is great to see if your interests align with the goals of the research lab, as well as giving you prime interaction time with an expert in their field.

For those who have just started research, do not be intimidated trying to understand everything early on! Ask questions and be proactive in receiving feedback or help about your assignments. Everyone in your lab wants you to grow and become the best scientist you can be, so do not hesitate to lean on them for support.

What are your future career goals?

I want to pursue an MD/PhD to eventually become a physician scientist; as of right now, I am very interested in pediatric neurosurgery to help save children’s lives while working in an intellectually challenging and stimulating field. Additionally, I want to continue my research in motor dysfunction by looking for clinical solutions, primarily in neuroprosthetics and neurobionics. Finally, I would like to pursue teaching at a collegiate level in computational biology and neuroscience to help cultivate passions of young aspiring scientists like myself.

Ivan Chavez

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Meet UCLA senior, Ivan Chavez, who is majoring in Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics. Ivan was recently awarded First Place Undergraduate Poster at the Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence conference. With almost five hundred attendees and 92 poster presentations, Ivan took home first place for his poster titled, ‘Strongyloides Parasitic Nematodes Display Life-stage-specific Responses to Bacteria’. 

Ivan also recently won the Microbiology Oral Presentation Award at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), one of the largest conferences for underrepresented minorities in STEM.

 

How did you first get involved in your research project?

I was first introduced to research as a career during the summer after my first year. I participated in the Biomedical Sciences Enrichment Program (BISEP) over summer. That experience helped me completely redefine my interests and career goals. I became immensely interested in pursuing research and the program director at the time, Dr. Devin Horton, encouraged me to join a lab. At the end of the summer, the program facilitated interviews with potential PIs looking for students. It was there that I met Dr. Elissa Hallem who fascinated me with her work on understanding the chemosensory behavior of parasitic nematodes. When I expressed my interest in microbial interactions she had the perfect project. A phenomenal graduate student and mentor, Taylor Brown, was working on understanding the interactions between these parasites and bacteria. It was through their mentorship that I have become immersed in this scientific question.

How would you describe your research experience at UCLA?

Transformative. As someone who entered college not understanding what research even was, my experience of being an undergraduate researcher at UCLA has changed the trajectory of my long term goals. I’ve always been interested in posing scientific questions. Being involved in research has cultivated and strengthened those tendencies. It’s also been incredibly supportive. I’ve had so many opportunities because of my research such as attending national conferences and summer programs to present and conduct research, being completely funded for my last two years of college, and receiving intimate professional development. My research experience has been profoundly impactful due to helping me meet amazing people, many of which I’m fortunate enough to call friends and mentors.

What is one piece of advice you have for other students thinking about getting involved in research?

Ask yourself if you want to create knowledge. Research is a long and rigorous process, but ultimately, you are generating the answers to novel questions. If that is appealing to you, get involved! It’s a process unlike any other that will further shape your resilience and critical reasoning and ultimately help you grow as a person.

What are your future career goals?

I will attend graduate school to obtain a PhD in microbiology. Throughout graduate school, I would like to do science outreach for graduating high school seniors and mentor an undergraduate on my thesis project. Much like people did for me, a serious component of my career will involve motivating the next generation of underrepresented groups to get excited about and into research. After my PhD I hope to continue my research and eventually become a professor at an R1 institution like UCLA. I would like to lead a group of people with diverse perspectives to synthesize new ideas and innovations in the field of microbiology to help repurpose the most abundant organisms on Earth for human benefit.

Angela Gao

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Meet UCLA senior, Angela Gao, who is majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Angela is was recently selected as a Undergraduate Collegiate Rapid Fire finalist for the Women in Engineering 2020 Conference. Awarded to 10 undergraduate students nationwide to present research at the world’s largest conference for women engineers with over 10,000 attendees.

Angela is also currently a part of our UC Leadership Excellence Through Advanced Degrees (UC LEADS) program.

 

How did you first get involved in your research project?

In freshman year, one of my friends from my Chemistry class suggested that I participate in undergraduate research. I emailed a few professors whose work is in the field of robotics. When some of the professors didn’t respond to me, I personally knocked on their doors to ask for a conversation. Even though I had no previous experience in research or engineering, Prof. Ankur Mehta and graduate student mentor Wenzhong Yan were generous to allow me to start on a research project at the Laboratory for Embedded Machines and Ubiquitous Robots (LEMUR). At LEMUR, I performed controlled experiments that tested the strain of supercoiled polymer actuators, which were integrated in a novel controller manufactured using origami techniques.

 

How would you describe your research experience at UCLA?

My research experience at UCLA is one of the most fulfilling experiences in my life. As a first-generation college student, I found it challenging at first to understand the research process, as it is vastly different from taking classes and it is easy to get lost in a world full of technical terminologies. In my sophomore year, I was fortunate to be selected as a UC LEADS scholar advised by Prof. Veronica Santos at the Biomechatronics Lab. Under the direct guidance of Prof. Santos, I learned to be a researcher who can find support from my lab-mates and resolve problems associated with a novel research project. The faculty and staff from UC LEADS are incredibly helpful by allowing me to participate in journal clubs, practice my presentation skills, develop my leadership skills, and attend national conferences for undergraduate students. Those experiences gave me opportunities that I needed to grow both as a person and as an independent researcher.

 

What is one piece of advice you have for other students thinking about getting involved in research?

Place kindness above getting a research position. In academia, research is performed by people who have hearts and souls. From my experience, it is true that many people who learn to be highly skilled in research will become great researchers. However, great researchers who are also kind will become excellent researchers.

 

What are your future career goals?

When I had a summer research internship at UCSD advised under Prof. Mike Tolley, I realized how much I enjoy basic science, particularly biology. As a result, I decided that in graduate school, I would like to pursue a PhD in the Biomedical Sciences even though my current major is Mechanical Engineering. I am specifically interested in investigating the neurobiology of neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder. In the next 50 years, I believe that the field of Neuroscience will be in great demand in order to relieve medical bills for the 1 in 6 people in the world population who will be 65 or older by 2050. I hope to expand the field of Neuroscience by enabling greater collaboration among neuroscientists and roboticists. The integration of knowledge of the human brain and artificial intelligence seems to be a promising next frontier of research that may revolutionize the way we think about intelligence.

Emma Dawson

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Meet recent UCLA graduate, Emma Dawson, who graduated this past Spring 2020 in Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics. As an undergraduate Emma worked in the lab of Dr. Michael Teitell, whose research involves pediatric pathology.

Emma recently published her first-author paper in Scientific Reports titled “Stable retention of chloramphenicol-resistant mtDNA to rescue metabolically impaired cells”, which was previously published in the UCLA Undergraduate Science Journal.

How did you first get involved in your research project?

I started working in the Michael Teitell lab a few weeks into my undergraduate career at UCLA, after having reached out to Dr. Teitell the summer prior to starting my freshman year. Additionally, I had joined the HHMI-Pathways to Success Program, directed by Dr. Tracy Johnson, that helped prepare me to ask novel scientific questions/plan experiments to test those questions. Between Dr. Johnson and my direct mentors in the Teitell lab, Dr. Alexander Patananan and Alexander Sercel, I had great mentorship and advice while getting involved in my first independent research project that I worked on through all four years at UCLA. The project I worked on involved a cool phenomenon in which cells will transfer mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell) directly to another cell, known as mitochondrial transfer. This can be done as a means of promoting tissue recovery or is hijacked by cancer cells to promote cancer progression. This is a new, and very exciting field, that I feel fortunate to have contributed to through my recent publication developing a high-throughput pipeline for studying mitochondrial transfer in cells.

How would you describe your research experience at UCLA?

My research experiences at UCLA have completely changed my life. I was involved in research programs including the HHMI-Pathways to Success, the CARE Scholars Program, and the MARC program that all helped me succeed as a scientist. Additionally, my lab mentors and lab advisor, Dr. Michael Teitell, gave me the freedom and the confidence to ask novel questions in the field and to perform exciting experiments as a part of an independent project in the lab. These research experiences solidified my desire to continue academic research and apply for a PhD in biology.

What is one piece of advice you have for other students thinking about getting involved in research?

My biggest advice to students interested in getting involved in research is to just do it! Students have to reach out to professors and take the initiative to join a lab. There are so many resources on campus to help you find a lab and a lab environment that fit your needs. Students just have to take the initiative. And with that said, if you can join a lab earlier, rather than later, the better. I was only able to accomplish everything I did in my lab, because I was able to work and grow in that environment for four years. The longer you spend in a lab environment, the more you will get out of it.

What are your future career goals?

I am excited to be starting my PhD in the Biology program at MIT this fall. I could not be more thankful to all of my mentors that pushed me to succeed as an undergrad. I would not be where I am today without them. After my PhD, I hope to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship and ultimately, pursue a faculty position at an academic institution.