I am a neuroscientist turned UI/UX developer. Currently moonlighting as a Senior Software Engineer at Genentech, which is honestly….if you know me…a dream come true. Learning how to help clinicogenomic efforts towards drug discovery.
I recieved my Neuroscience Ph.D. in 2025 doing invertebrate behavior in Dr. John Tuthill’s lab at the University of Washington. As a graduate student, my research aims to develop strategies to delineate neuronal pathways downstream of Drosophila nociceptors that drive aversive escape behaviors. I employ a combination of optogenetic activation, precise genetic silencing techniques, single-cell RNA sequencing, and neural electron microscopy circuit reconstruction to gain a comprehensive understanding of these pathways.
staining of ppk-Gal4, Taken by: Bryan Lim (Feng Wei Yu’s Lab)
Previously I graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 2018 (Go Slugs!). After completing my undergraduate studies with Dr. James Ackman, I worked as a Research Specialist in Dr. Ishmail Abdus-Saboor’s laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania for two years. During this time, I developed new, more objective assays, and computational tools to assess acute and chronic pain states in rodent models.
Notable graduate awards:
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellowship (2022)
- NSFGRFP Honorable Mention, Life Sciences - Neurosciences (2022)
- NIH T32 Predoctoral Training Program in the Neurosciences (2020-21)