What is your academic background? What research experience did you have before grad school?

I studied bioinformatics, statistics, and philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. I started writing code in high school by writing extensions for computer games. At Loyola, I discovered bioinformatics by chance and learned about metagenomics and retrotransposons in the soybean genome. At the Field Museum, I helped to develop an editable database to organize the taxonomy for Bryozoa, a phylum of aquatic invertebrate animals. At University of California Santa Cruz, I analyzed circular RNAs in genomics data from archaea (extremophiles) and went mountain biking on beautiful trails in the redwood forest.

What is your research area and why is it exciting?

The immune system protects us from infections and cancer, and learning how the components of this system work together is absolutely fascinating. The latest technology produces rich data with high resolution, thousands of features, and millions of observations. As the field moves forward, biomedical researchers are inventing creative strategies to uncover the connections between immunity, the nervous system, and the connective tissue in the body. My research area is stromal immunology, where we ask questions about how the connective tissue cells work together with the immune system.

Why did you choose BIG?

You can pursue any research direction in Boston, because there is a high density of scientists, research institutions, hospitals, and biomedical industries. Excellent scientists from all over the world come to Boston to present their work.

What was your favorite class and why?

Advanced Population and Medical Genetics by Alkes Price. We learned about genome-wide association analyses by writing the code to do quantitative analyses. I love to learn and teach by working with real data and asking questions -- I think this is the best way to learn genomics and ignite curiosity in your students.

What advice would you give to college students who are interested in a PhD in genomics/bioinformatics?

Leave your campus and learn about the research happening in different institutions. Consider applying for a National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). Find something that interests you and apply: https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/