Charlotte is a rising senior at Wesleyan University double majoring in Molecular Biology and
Biochemistry, and Neuroscience and Behavior. At Wesleyan, she works in Dr. MacQueen’s lab, using
budding yeast as a model organism for studying the dynamics of meiotic proteins involved in the structure
and function of the synaptonemal complex.
As a UCLA Amgen Scholar, Charlotte works in Dr. Askary’s lab in the Molecular, Cell and
Developmental Biology Department, and this lab focuses on creating and utilizing new or modified
molecular tools to understand embryonic development of the mammalian retina with the goal of using this
understanding to develop better therapeutic strategies and molecular diagnostics for neurodegenerative
disorders of the eye. Charlotte is using a modified single molecule fluorescent in situ hybridization
(smFISH) procedure developed by a member of the Askary Lab to visualize the presence and localization
of the expression of 33 different genes of RPCs in embryonic mouse tissue with the hopes to use this
combined spatial and transcriptional information to characterize subtypes of RPCs that could inform on
what biases an RPC to assume a certain cell fate. This would provide further insight into the development
of the retina, as well as a means of generating a reliable source of different retinal cell types to use for
studying treatment of retinal damage.
Charlotte would like to thank Dr. Askary, her mentor Pratiti Dasgupta, lab manager Yuka McGrath, and
the other members of the Askary Lab for their guidance, support, and encouragement, as well as the
Amgen Foundation for this amazing opportunity!