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Earlier Projects
In my younger and more vulnerable years, I was very confused as to what I wanted from my career. Thanks to the generosity, patience, and tolerance of many mentors, I had the good fortune to dabble in an eclectic mix of research projects without the pressure of expectation.
Molecular Simulation of Nucleosomes
In my second and third semesters (January to December 2013) at Columbia, I worked in Doctor Vanessa Ortiz's research group. I helped a senior colleague set up MD simulations and alchemical FEP calculations within NAMD. After analysing the data by TCL scripting, I predicted the solvent accessible surface areas of the phosphate groups and the nucleotide distributions in nucleosome-forming DNA fragments.
Image and Quantitative Analysis of SNARE-Mediated Membrane Fusion
In my first semester (September to December 2012) at Columbia University in the City of New York, I worked in Professor Ben O'Shaughnessy's research group. I worked with Doctor Ben Stratton, a PhD candidate then, to study SNARE-mediated membrane fusion. I used Speckle TrackerJ, an ImageJ plugin, to analyse TIRFM images of a microfluidic setup, quantifying lipid motion and vesicle fusion with a phospholipid bilayer. From the data, I calculated the average diffusion coefficient and bleaching time of lipid, and then inferred the vesicles' size distribution.
Simulation of the ER Stress Response in Alzheimer's Disease
In my final year at Imperial College London, I completed a research project under the supervision of Professor Cleo Kontoravdi. Between October and December in 2011, a lab partner and I constructed a mathematical model (ordinary differential equations) of the PERK-mediated branch of the unfolded protein response, and performed gPROMS-aided computer simulations of the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
QSAR Analysis of Tacrine-Related Compounds for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease
I was nominated by IAESTE UK and funded by IAESTE Argentina to intern at the Research Institute of Theoretical and Applied Physical Chemistry in La Plata, Argentina from July to September in 2011. Under the supervision of Professor Pablo Duchowicz and Doctor Andrew Mercader from Professor Eduardo Castro's group, I constructed 10 QSAR models by multiple linear regression. The models predict the activities of tacrine-related acetylcholinesterase inhibitors in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Preparation and Characterisation of Novel Magnesium Silicate Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering
Between November 2010 and March 2011, I volunteered in Professor Hala Zreiqat's Biomaterial and Tissue Engineering Research Unit, a part of the University of Sydney. I worked with Doctor Iman Roohani, a PhD candidate then, to prepare strontium-doped magnesium silicate scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications, and determine their chemical compositions by X-ray diffraction.
Organic Synthesis
I guess it was not exactly a research project. When I was still a sixth-former in the UK, I reached out to Professor Henry N.C. Wong in Hong Kong. After convincing him of my academic potential, I earned a paid internship at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Between July and August in 2007, I assisted Doctor Sam C.K. Hau (a PhD candidate then) in labour-intensive and hands-on tasks in Professor Wong's organic synthesis laboratory. Although the underlying science was way beyond my comprehension, I learnt some practical experimental techniques and experienced the day-to-day happenings in academic life.