ResearchResearch AssistantJan 2025 — PresentUniversity of Pittsburgh
Cell-biology research in the Apodaca Lab (Dept. of Medicine, Pitt) — epithelial / urothelial physiology in rat models, bench work bridging mechanisms to clinical outcomes.
- assays on rat epithelial models
- 30+assays on rat epithelial modelsPer resume
- reproducibility improvement
- ~20%reproducibility improvementPer resume
- faster data processing
- ~40%faster data processingPer resume
Context
The Apodaca Lab (PI: Gerard Apodaca, Department of Medicine) studies urothelial biology and lower-urinary-tract function — mechanotransduction, membrane trafficking, and epithelial physiology — using rat epithelial models.
I run bench experiments and the analysis behind them, thinking translationally about how fundamental mechanisms connect to clinical outcomes and evidence-based care.
What I did
- —Ran 30+ epithelial / tissue assays on rat models — sample prep, immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy, and Western blots — probing transport and membrane trafficking.
- —Standardized experimental protocols across the lab, improving reproducibility ~20%.
- —Analyzed imaging and transport data (ImageJ, GraphPad Prism, Excel) and contributed figures toward lab publications and grant submissions.
- —Built automated Excel templates that cut data-processing time ~40%; kept rigorous documentation and presented in lab meetings.
- Cell Biology
- Microscopy
- Wet Lab
- Data Analysis