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Evelyn T

- Research Program Mentor

MEng candidate at Keck Graduate Institute

Expertise

history of gene therapy in the biotech field, methods of gene therapy to cure cancer, Reasons tumors are evading our immune system, Relationship between cancer and diet, A study of our immune system, cutting edge therapies to treat cancer, research proposal on cancer treatment

Bio

Dear students, I was and always have been interested in the human body and why we function the way we do. I also love working on cutting-edge technologies to cure cancer. I have worked on CAR-T therapies for blood cancers, and now I'm working on T cell infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) to fight solid tumors. In both niches, I was involved in genetic modification of the patients' own cells to boost their ability to fight tumors, which I think is so cool. On another topic, I think it's so important to find a hobby separate from my career to build your self-confidence, de-stress, and to have a community. My favorite hobby currently is rock climbing. I love building strength at the gym, exploring new climbing areas outdoors, and learning wilderness and rope rescue/survival skills. Your potential mentor, Evelyn

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.

Scientific Review Paper on 'Reasons tumors are evading our immune system'

In this project, you will read scientific literature to research the various methods tumors use to evade our immune system. Ie. suppressive tumor microenvironment, decreased markers that typically allow immune cells to recognize it, inhibition of molecules that tell immune cells where to find the tumor, etc. This process will teach you the critical skills of finding, accessing, reading, and critically analyzing scientific literature and compiling it into a meaningful review of your own. These are critical skills to learning about new advances in any scientific field.

History of gene therapy

Summary of the history of gene therapy: From the first time scientists discovered they can use viruses to insert genes into cells and the first person to be cured of Bubble boy syndrome via inserting a missing gene to the current cutting-edge gene-modified Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes, which have cured some patients who previously had metastatic tumors and a 30% chance of surviving 5 years. You could tell this story by making a review paper, poster, blog post, or even a podcast. Gene therapy is the future of personalized medicine for any disease, and learning its history is so critical.

Credentials

Work experience

Kite pharma (2017 - 2020)
Process Engineer, Associate Process Engineer
Instil Bio (2020 - Current)
Sr Process Engineer

Education

University of California Irvine (UCI)
BS Bachelor of Science (2014)
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Keck Graduate Institute
MEng Master of Engineering candidate
Bioprocessing

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