My expertise
Construct, carrier, readout.
Three threads run through my work: molecular biology and construct design, lipid nanoparticle formulation, and lentiviral vector engineering. I build the construct, formulate or produce the vehicle that carries it, and design the in vitro and in vivo readouts that show whether it reached the target cell and worked. Few scientists have run both delivery platforms hands-on, so I choose a modality on evidence rather than on whichever one my hands already know.
What I bring
Three problems I solve well.
Cross-platform delivery perspective
Formulated and characterized mRNA lipid nanoparticles, and separately built lentiviral packaging and producer cell lines. Few scientists have run both platforms hands-on, and the comparison informs how I pick a delivery modality for a given target cell.
Assays that rescue programs
Implemented droplet digital PCR for high-throughput lipid nanoparticle biodistribution and tropism, improving assay signal to noise 100-fold and keeping a program alive that was close to being written off.
Design of experiments on formulation
Ran a full factorial design crossing microfluidic flow rate against lipid N/P ratio, reading out particle size, polydispersity index, encapsulation efficiency, and transfection, then correlated those attributes with potency.
Where I have worked
Two companies, one problem.
Emmune
Principal Scientist in Cambridge, Massachusetts, running formulation and cell-based assay work for a genetic medicine program, from microfluidic formulation through in vivo study design.
Intellia Therapeutics
Three years, first as a Scientist on vector biology and CRISPR screening, then as a Senior Scientist on delivery biology, working on lipid nanoparticle delivery into primary and immortalized cells.
My training was in molecular genetics and cancer biology. I completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UT Health San Antonio modeling rhabdomyosarcoma in zebrafish (Danio rerio), and a Ph.D. at the University of Saskatchewan studying how protein catabolism couples to lifespan and reproduction in Caenorhabditis elegans.
How I like to work
Roughly half my time at the bench and half developing the scientists around me is the balance I find most productive. I mentored a junior scientist at Intellia Therapeutics for a year, co-directed a junior scientist and co-mentored a process engineer at Emmune, and supervised graduate students, a clinical fellow, and summer students during my postdoctoral training.