Previous Projects and Affiliations
UC Berkeley - Coates Lab
I did my PhD research in the lab of Dr. John Coates at UC Berkeley in the Plant and Microbial Biology Department. In the Coates Lab, I worked on the genetics and genomics of bacterial perchlorate metabolism.
During my time in the Coates Lab, I identified a horizontally transferred genomic island containing the genes for perchlorate reduction as well as several genes with unknown function. I also developed the first genetic system for a perchlorate reducer using the model organism Azospira suillum PS and identified genes essential for perchlorate reduction. Using a mixture of biochemistry, next-gen sequencing methods like RNA-seq, and classical genetics I characterized a novel mechanism for amelioration of periplasmic hypochlorite stress. Throughout my time in the Coates Lab, I was involved in sequencing and analyzing the genomes of perchlorate-reducing isolates, which culminated in an improved understanding of the diversity and evolution of this metabolism.
LBNL - Arkin Lab
From 2014 to 2015, I worked in the lab of Dr. Adam Arkin at LBNL. I worked on several projects there, including synthetic ecology and directed evolution of Pseudomonas isolates as well as the random barcoded transposon sequencing project (RB-TnSeq) led by Dr. Adam Deutschbauer. I built RB-TnSeq libraries for several model plant-associated bacteria, including Sinorhizobium meliloti 1021, Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN, and Herbaspirillum seropedicae SmR1. Using these libraries along with those from several dozen other bacteria, thousands of independent fitness assays were carried out, generating a massive public bacterial fitness database and annotations for thousands of previously unknown bacterial genes.
Bayer Crop Science
From 2015 to 2016, I worked in the Biologicals R&D division of Bayer Crop Science at the West Sacramento campus. I was in the Computational Life Sciences group, where I worked on various projects involving genomics-driven trait discovery for agricultural applications of bacteria.