Please join the Andersen Lab in welcoming the seven summer interns selected from the Scripps Research Translational Institute Student Research Internship Program! Chosen from a large pool of candidates from around the country, these keen aspiring scientists are motivated to learn from leading researchers at Scripps Research. The new interns are working closely with a mentor on either a wet lab or computational project to learn about the methods we use to study the emergence, spread, and occurrence of infectious diseases.
Bethany Kim is a rising junior at the University of California, Los Angeles, currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Computational & Systems Biology with a concentration in Biological Data Sciences. Josh Levy will mentor her on a project that explores the potential of wastewater-based surveillance to monitor prevalence and lineage evolution of the dengue virus by researching genetic epidemiology and by performing phylogenetic modeling. In her free time, she enjoys doing graphic and UI/UX design.
Local MiraCosta College student Aya Eulmi is from Carlsbad, California. Her mentor is Jyothi Purushotham, and they are working on purifying and quantifying pathogenic antibodies in wastewater as a means of public health surveillance. In her free time, she can usually be found at the beach or curled up in bed reading a book.
Jessica Liao is a rising junior from Amador Valley High School in California. She is working with Chrissy Aceves to analyze the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Chile during the Omicron wave. In her free time, she enjoys photography, painting, and hiking.
Helen Hao is a rising senior at Sage Creek High School in Carlsbad, California. This summer, she is being mentored by graduate student Praneeth Gangavarapu, on a project exploring the use of DeBERTa, a natural language processing (NLP) model, for antibody sequences. The project aims to leverage this capability to address the challenges posed by the limited amount of paired antibody sequence data available. She enjoys training in the dojo and going on hikes.
Returning intern, Kieran Saucedo, is a rising junior at Harvey Mudd College studying mathematical and computational biology. He is being mentored by Chrissy Aceves and working on constructing an autoencoder to compress wastewater sequencing data to improve the efficiency of downstream analyses. In his free time, he enjoys reading science fiction and fantasy books, playing soccer, and listening to music.
Yasmeen Shah is a rising senior at the Academy of Our Lady of Peace high school in North Park, San Diego. She is passionate about molecular and cell biology and hopes to pursue a career in medicine. Mark Zeller is mentoring her on a research project focused on targeted amplicon sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 clinical samples to identify specific lineages of the virus and detect any emerging variants. In my spare time, I love to travel and visit historic sites.
Carlos A. Ocasio Ramirez joins the Scripps Research Translational Institute all the way from Ponce Health Sciences University Medical School in Puerto Rico. This summer, he will work in the Andersen Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Jyothi Purushotham, researching the virological and immunological impacts of Paxlovid treatment and its relation to COVID-19 rebound. In his free time, he enjoys outdoor activities like surfing, hiking, and trying out new coffee shops. He previously worked as a Lab Assistant in the Andersen Lab.
At the end of the summer, the interns will present the independent research project they developed with their mentor. We look forward to seeing the results of their hard work!
