Scientific Research
If I were to call myself one type of scientist, it would be a geneticist. While they are not the solution to all biological problems, the sequences and activities of genes provide vast amounts of unique information on how biological populations function and evolve.
Currently, I am a PhD student at the Pallares Lab, where my current research addresses factors influencing how gene expression variability might evolve using genomics and bioinformatics approaches. Low variability means individuals tend to express more or less the same amount of gene product (e.g., mRNA) around some average value, while high variability means individuals deviate highly from it. While determinants that distinguish low-variability genes from high-variability genes have long been appreciated, factors underpinning shifts in variability of individual genes remain relatively undercharacterised, especially in multicellular organisms. TIn lieu of this, look forward to new work on how a defined stressful diet and genetic variation affect gene expression variability, made possible through Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies.
This research belongs to the burgeoning research area of biological phenotypic variability (or biological noise), which ties together various theories and phenomena in evolution, development, quantitative trait genetics, and molecular gene regulation, some of which are highlighted below:
In my 'past lives', I helped other researchers identify genes whose expression may better predict breast cancer patient survival, narrow down parts of a molecular 'code' for the unusually reliable production of specialised smell neurons in Drosophila, and study genetically-engineered strains of mosquitoes holding promise to reduce the spread of malaria.
For more details on my scientific work, publications and engagements, please check out my CV!
