Background:

            I got my B.S. in Biology in 2005 and my M.S. in Biology in 2007 at the University of the Pacific. For my Master's I worked in Lisa Wrischnik's Lab investigating the presence of meiotic genes in T.vaginalis, an organism not known to have a meiotic cycle. I am currently a Ph.D. candidate at  UC Santa Cruz (2007-). 

Research Project:

            The big question that I am addressing is how a single type of force generating protein, kinesin-1, can accomplish diverse tasks.  Specifically, I am studying how kinesin-1 is used in axonal transport of mitochondria and vesicles, localization of determinant mRNAs and mass cytoplasmic streaming. These processes have different requirements; axonal transport and mRNA localization target specific cargoes to specific places to sustain asymmetric cellular structure and functions, while cytoplasmic streaming does the opposite, randomly mixing all unanchored components of cytoplasm.   We think kinesin-1 can accomplish such diverse transport tasks because of diverse cargo linker proteins and regulatory schemes.  I am particularly interested in linkage mechanisms, which I am pursuing using genetics, time-lapse fluorescence microscopy, and biochemistry.