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Christopher O

- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

Expertise

General biology, cancer biology, stem cell biology, cancer immunology, or cancer therapy.

Bio

Hi there, my name is Chris Ochoa and I'm a PhD candidate at UCLA studying in the field of molecular biology! I've had the fortune of being able to conduct research at several different institutions in the University of California system, including UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and now UCLA. During my academic research career, I've had the privilege of giving poster presentations, featured talks, and worked to publish my research. My current research efforts are focused on better understanding cancer, specifically ovarian cancer, and how to better treat it. Having grown up in California, I love being outdoors! Some of my hobbies include camping, backpacking, rock climbing, and snowboarding. I also enjoy exercising, playing board games, watching movies/TV, and eating out with friends! A few fun facts about myself are that I'm the first person in my family to attend college and now to pursue a PhD!

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Cancer Biology Review

Are you interested in learning more about cancer biology? In this project, students will choose a specific cancer of their choice and learn to conduct a scientific literature review. In this scientific literature review, the students will learn about the tissue/cell of origin, what happens to the tissue/cells at a molecular level to allow for cancer development, and the current therapies geared toward treating it. To finish things off, we'll work together in creating a paper, video, or presentation based off the student's findings!

Cancer Gene Research Proposal

In this project, students will do an initial scientific literature review of some common genes that are commonly mutated in cancer. Once they find a gene of interest, will do another short scientific literature review on what is currently known about this gene in cancer development. We'll then brainstorm a few ideas about new ways we can research this gene and create a proposal. After this, we'll work towards creating a few experiments to test our proposal. Finally, we'll create a presentation of the student's choice to share their findings!

Cancer Treatment Review

In this project, students will identify a cancer of interest and perform a scientific literature review on the history of treatment for this specific type of cancer. Once the students have learned about the history of its treatment, the student will investigate current treatments and their level of effectiveness. Lastly, the students will then prepare a presentation for which they'll be able to share their findings!

Languages I know

Spanish - conversational

Teaching experience

Through my graduate school studies, I've had the opportunity and privilege to TA for a molecular biology class here at UCLA for two quarters. Each quarter I mentored two different sections with 25 students each. Each week consisted of preparing a lesson plan geared around a specific piece of scientific literature on the topic of the week for the class. I would then carry out the lesson plan in a discussion section for each group of students and guide them in understanding the topic and scientific literature. Additionally, I helped to prepare questions for homework, quizzes, and exams that we administered to the students!

Credentials

Work experience

University of California, Berkeley (2017 - 2017)
NIH Bridges to Baccalaureate Summer Research Intern - Whiteman Lab
University of California, Davis (2017 - 2019)
Undergraduate Research Assistant
University of California, Los Angeles (2019 - Current)
PhD Student Researcher

Education

University of California Davis (UCD)
BS Bachelor of Science (2019)
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Molecular Biology

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