Summary
Professional Biography
- 2019 - present: Director of Research and Development, DxDiscovery, Inc., Reno, NV
- 2014 - present: Faculty Research Scientist, Diagnostics Discovery Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, Reno, Reno, NV
- 2014 - 2019: Principal Scientist, DxDiscovery, Inc., Reno, NV
- 2013 - 2014: Postdoctoral Fellow, Diagnostics Discovery Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, Reno, NV
- 2009 - 2012: Graduate Research Assistant, Biology Department, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
- 2010 - 2011: Teaching Assistant, Biology Department, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
- 2006 - 2008: Staff Research Associate I, Biology Department, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
Research Interests
My research interests center on improving public health through better diagnosis of infectious diseases. There are effective treatments for many infectious diseases. But the current diagnostic tests for many of these diseases are too slow, too expensive, or require such specialized equipment, user expertise, and/or healthcare infrastructure that the diagnostic information comes too late (if at all) for patients to maximally benefit from the available treatments. My goal is to help make access to actionable diagnostic information fast (less than 20 min), affordable, and readily available to patients, even in resource-limited settings. Getting an accurate diagnosis during the patient’s first healthcare visit enables prompt initiation of appropriate treatment, better patient outcomes, and limits disease transmission in the community.
My work focuses on:
- Identifying microbial biomarkers for fungal or bacterial infection
- Creating reagents to recognize the biomarker (typically monoclonal antibodies)
- Developing and optimizing prototype assays (typically in the lateral flow immunoassay “dipstick” format, analogous to the at-home pregnancy test)
- Validating assays for point-of-care use with patient clinical specimens
Education
- 2014: Post-doctoral Fellow, Proteomics and Immunoassay Development, University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine
- 2012: Ph.D., Cell and Molecular Biology (Glycoprotein proteomics), University of Nevada, Reno
- 2006: M.S., Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
- 2006: B.S., Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA