I completed an A.S. in biology at the Madera Community College (May 2017, SUMMA CUM LAUDE) and then transitioned to Fresno State, where I graduated in May 2020 (SUMMA CUM LAUDE). During my undergraduate career I took an interest in research and teaching through tutoring human physiology and microbiology courses, while also actively participating in research and associated programs designed to help minority students engage in research including HCOP and LSAMP. I then entered UC Merced and the QSB program in FALL 2020.
My current research bridges the worlds of human physiology, particularly host metabolism, with virology. I focus on human adenoviral infection and the impacts of this infection on host metabolism. I am interested in studying metabolic pathways not previously considered with human adenoviral infection, particularly across cells from different tissue origins. In addition, I am interested in understanding how individual genetic elements of the human adenovirus are involved in these metabolic disruptions, to understand mechanistically how human adenovirus usurps metabolism to aid in its replication. To accomplish these studies, our lab utilizes high throughput metabolomic strategies to examine global changes to the host metabolome. Through these investigations, I hope to add to the myriad of questions pertaining to viral interactions with host metabolism.
