University: Harvard University
Hometown: Rosedale, NY
NIH Research Project:
Characterization of T-Cell Effector Function and Relationship to Viral Load in HIV+ Patients
Mentor: Richard Koup, M.D.
Vaccine Research Center
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
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I am a junior at Harvard University, where my academic concentration is biochemistry. I plan to pursue an M.D./Ph.D., specializing in infectious diseases.
I was born and raised in a French-speaking city outside of Montreal. When I moved to the United States with limited English skills, science became a universal language that I quickly learned.
As a high school senior, I worked with researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories on analyzing the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana, a mustard plant commonly used in genomic studies that was used to test microarray technology.
As a Harvard freshman, I trained in the laboratory of Dr. Max Nibert and studied how the proteins of reoviruses-a group of viruses that cause respiratory and gastrointestinal infections-interact with proteins in the cytoplasm of cells during infection.
In the summer of 2002, I trained in Dr. Luis Quadri's laboratory at Cornell Medical School. I attempted to delete certain genes that are upregulated by the pathogen Pseudomona aeruginosa in order for it to survive under iron starvation and oxidative stress, two conditions that the body uses to fight off bacterial pathogens.
When I returned to Harvard, I joined the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Harrison and helped in the ongoing design of novel HIV drugs. These drugs aim to prevent the virus from entering new cells by binding a peptide that allows HIV to fuse with target cells.
As a UGSP Scholar, I am training in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Koup in the NIH's Vaccine Research Center. I am investigating the transmission of HIV from dendritic cells to T-cells, as well as the response of CD8+ T-cells to HIV antigens. I am having a great time learning new technologies and becoming more fluent in the sciences. |
