Alyssa Pama

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Alyssa is a rising senior at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo studying Biochemistry. At Cal Poly, Alyssa works in Dr. Andres Martinez’s research laboratory and has been testing enzyme stabilizers on paper for applications on point-of-care (POC) microfluidic paper-based devices. At UCLA, Alyssa is conducting research under Dr. Daniel T. Kamei in the Department of Bioengineering. The Kamei Laboratory focuses on the development of novel POC diagnostics and was the first to apply aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) to lateral-flow immunoassays (LFAs). ATPSs can be used to pre-concentrate a target biomarker into a smaller volume to improve the sensitivity of LFAs. Previous studies done by the Kamei Laboratory have shown that polymer-salt ATPSs can decrease the LFA limit of detection by 10-fold. However, because polymer-polymer ATPSs are more temperature resistant than polymer-salt ATPSs, they are more applicable at the POC. Alyssa’s current project is to optimize the use of a polymer-polymer ATPS composed of polyethylene glycol and dextran for use with LFAs. Since dextran is too viscous to efficiently flow across a LFA, the enzyme dextranase will be used to cleave dextran into smaller subunits. This should improve the flow of dextran by decreasing viscosity and consequently, increase the sensitivity of the LFA. Alyssa would like to thank Dr. Daniel Kamei, Frances Nicklen, and all of the members of the Kamei Laboratory for being so welcoming and helping her grow as a scientist. She would also like to thank the Amgen Foundation for funding this amazing summer research opportunity.

Alyssa is a rising senior at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo studying Biochemistry. At Cal Poly, Alyssa works in Dr. Andres Martinez’s research laboratory and has been testing enzyme stabilizers on paper for applications on point-of-care (POC) microfluidic paper-based devices.

At UCLA, Alyssa is conducting research under Dr. Daniel T. Kamei in the Department of Bioengineering. The Kamei Laboratory focuses on the development of novel POC diagnostics and was the first to apply aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) to lateral-flow immunoassays (LFAs). ATPSs can be used to pre-concentrate a target biomarker into a smaller volume to improve the sensitivity of LFAs. Previous studies done by the Kamei Laboratory have shown that polymer-salt ATPSs can decrease the LFA limit of detection by 10-fold. However, because polymer-polymer ATPSs are more temperature resistant than polymer-salt ATPSs, they are more applicable at the POC. Alyssa’s current project is to optimize the use of a polymer-polymer ATPS composed of polyethylene glycol and dextran for use with LFAs. Since dextran is too viscous to efficiently flow across a LFA, the enzyme dextranase will be used to cleave dextran into smaller subunits. This should improve the flow of dextran by decreasing viscosity and consequently, increase the sensitivity of the LFA.

Alyssa would like to thank Dr. Daniel Kamei, Frances Nicklen, and all of the members of the Kamei Laboratory for being so welcoming and helping her grow as a scientist. She would also like to thank the Amgen Foundation for funding this amazing summer research opportunity.