Current Research

The Multiplex Biotechnology Lab under Dr. Jun Wang focuses on developing and improving assays for the single-cell, spatial analysis of protein expression. Past research in the lab has been able to successfully co-detect up to 31 proteins. The spatial-MIST technology relies on the use of DNA-conjugated beads in a microarray binding to complementary antibody conjugates used to stain the tissue, resulting in a “printed” distribution of protein markers upon the microarray. My research project is to expand this array into successfully co-detecting RNA expression along with proteins. I’m excited about the scope of this assay in the discovery of new cell biomarkers.

This is how a microarray with DNA conjugated beads looks visualized under fluorescence microscopy ~~

Past Research

I carried out my senior undergraduate thesis under Dr. Tina Mukherjee at the Institute of Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore, India. As a part of the Metabolism and Development Lab, I worked to understand the effects of key metabolic pathways on cell development in Drosophila melanogaster larvae. I set up a genetic cross between an RNAi line and a “reporter” line (which tagged a biomarker with GFP) to study the effect of knocking down the enzyme alpha ketoglutarate dehydrogenase on the development of lamellocyte cells. Lamellocytes are a unique cell subpopulation which only appear briefly during the larval stage and only under immune stress. I cultured the cross with specific parasital wasps to create the condition of immune stress. I then counted the number of lamellocytes in the circulating pool as well as in the lymph gland. In the end, the results were inconclusive – but I realized that I enjoyed the (admittedly taxing) process of research (and learnt some cool fly-pushing techniques!)

Check out my lymph gland dissections under DAPI, GFP, and Myospheroid-Cy3 staining respectively ~~

For more information about my work and research experiences, see my CV.