Experience

Staff Research Associate

University of California Los Angeles (2022 - present)

• Conducted research in two labs investigating metabolic and transcriptional reprogramming across prostate cancer disease states:
• Goldstein lab
• Boutros lab
• Led two distinct research projects in parallel and developed a third open-source software project
• Hands-on experience in culturing and performing experiments with ~8 different prostate cancer model systems:
• Lentiviral transductions
• Immunoblotting
• Metabolic tracing assays
• Viability assays
• Developed and applied computational pipelines for transcriptional analysis
• Developed an R datasets package containing processed transcriptional data from over 200 samples across seven different studies at release:
• Performed data curation and quality assessment where I detected and corrected sample swaps in external datasets
• Developed an object-oriented dataset class using the S4 system to enable easy access to metadata, sample information, and analysis methods
• Added gene set enrichment analysis and meta-analysis features
• Implemented a gene identifier mapping system to enable cross-species analysis without relying on external databases
• Resolved graphics-rendering failures caused by memory limits and label collisions in enrichment and volcano plots using custom downsampling and cartesian coordinate offsetting algorithms
• Extended the default lattice axes labeling system to support logarithmic axes
• Implemented a custom colour-mapping engine based on deriving and using an affine RGB transformation matrix, enabling continuous two-colour gradients and three-colour (diverging) schemes
• Developed RAGToolBox: a modular python package for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) prototyping
• Engineered 9 modules with 4 CLI entrypoints for loading, indexing, retrieval, and augmentation
• Shipped v0.1.0 with tagged release and changelog
• Implemented 3 CI/CD workflows via GitHub Actions
• Published package to PyPI
• Implemented continuous unit and integration testing with ~83% coverage

Lead K-12 Mathematics Instructor

Mathnasium, LLC (2019 - 2021)

• Provided one-on-one and group tutoring in foundational mathematics (e.g. algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus) and other general science courses
• Managed learning center operations on weekends:
• Administered assessments to new students
• Managed student learning plans
• Followed up with leads
• Scheduled and matched instructors with students

Education

BS: Biochemistry

University of California Los Angeles (2020-2022)

• Conducted biomedical research while completing undergraduate coursework
• Completed a graduate-level course in mass spectrometry proteomics, and upper-division electives in mathematics and machine learning

AA (honors): Social and Behavioral Science

Santa Monica College (2015-2020)

• Explored multiple academic tracks before transitioning to STEM
• Worked part-time in service roles and as a peer tutor for foundational science and math courses