Danaher Foundation Grant Scholars

Melissa Brock

Orange County Chapter Scholar
University of California, Irvine
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Melissa is a 4th year PhD candidate in Dr. Adam Martiny’s research group. Her research interests include understanding the spatial distribution of marine bacteria, examining how marine bacteria are functioning and interacting, and identifying what environmental conditions impact marine bacteria to better understand how the world’s oceans work. She has published one first-author paper and has co-authored five published papers, while leading several other projects, including SCOP, which investigates how pollutants from the Orange County oil spill impacted marine bacteria and ecosystem recovery. She is also a recipient of the Provost PhD Fellowship and the T32 Training Program in Microbiology and Infectious Disease Fellowship.

Salma El-Azab 

Orange County Chapter Scholar
University of California, Irvine
Materials Science and Engineering

Salma received her Bachelor’s degree in materials engineering at Purdue University in 2019. Her interests in sustainability and green engineering brought her to the University of California Irvine that same year to begin her PhD in materials science and engineering.
Currently, Salma is a 4th year PhD candidate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Salma is a member of Professor Julie Schoenung's research group, where she studies the mechanical behavior of high entropy oxides, a novel ceramic material. Outside of her work, Salma enjoys hiking, camping, cooking, and crocheting.
 

Hendryck Gellineau

Illinois Chapter Scholar
Northwestern University
Chemistry

Hendryck has often wondered why those who study medicine aren’t also the ones who make and design medicine. He is training to become a physician–scientist so he can fuse the study and design of medicine to facilitate better drug development. His current research focuses on using metal-based drugs, specifically cobalt complexes, as new antibiotics. Metal-based drugs have been used to fight cancer but are an untapped source of antibiotics. One way cobalt complexes could combat resistant bacteria is by inhibiting their resistance machinery so that old antibiotics can function again. So far, Hendryck has designed and tested four different cobalt complexes, each with some ability to inhibit enzymes that deactivate antibiotics such as penicillin. He is also working on methods to increase the uptake of cobalt complexes into bacteria.

B. Hope Hauptman

Northern California Chapter Scholar
University of California, Merced
Environmental Systems

Hope recently published a systematic review of drinking water treatment methods for 1,2,3-Trichloropropane (TCP) in the Journal Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Development and a policy paper arguing for federal TCP limits in drinking water in the Journal of Science Policy and Governance. She previously taught high school science in the San Francisco Bay Area for over ten years and was a Science Educator in the U.S. Peace Corps in Kenya.

Sheila S. Iyer

Metro Washington Chapter Scholar
Johns Hopkins University
Biomedical Engineering

Sheila's research is in human genetics and genomics, using bioinformatic tools and creating analysis pipelines to study DNA sequencing data. She specifically studies mutations in genes.

Phoebe Keyes

Minnesota Chapter Scholar
University of Minnesota
Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering

Phoebe's work focuses on identifying the degradation products of polymers when they are exposed to environmental elements such as sunlight. Polymers are large molecules, but when they enter the environment, they get smaller through chemical reactions and, therefore more mobile and potentially toxic. Phoebe’s work is to understand what polymers, such as plastics, are turning into in different environmental conditions.

Javier Lepe

Orange County Chapter Scholar
University of California, Irvine
Experimental Pathology

During Javier’s undergraduate studies, he began his research experience working in an Aquatic toxicology lab which focused on answering the question of how killifish adapted to polluted environments at the molecular level. Shortly after receiving his bachelor’s degree, Javier secured an internship supported by CIRM to conduct research in regenerative medicine and receive rigorous training in brain and spinal cord injury models. Javier aims to continue conducting cancer research in academia after his PhD training and is committed to his role as a DECADE representative and continued involvement in mentoring programs to support students from diverse communities at UCI.

Cara-lin Lonetree

Minnesota Chapter Scholar
University of Minnesota
Immunology and Microbiology

Cara-lin’s research focuses on genetic engineering of CD8 T cells for novel and effective treatment of pancreatic cancer. CD8 T cells are a crucial component of the immune system that fights off foreign viruses and bacteria, as well as our own cells that have become cancerous. While pancreatic cancer is very good at shutting down the T cells that have made their way into tumors, decades of research have enabled us to manipulate T cell DNA in ways that may improve their functionality and persistence in the solid tumor microenvironment (TME).

Allison N. McCrady

Metro Washington Chapter Scholar
University of Virginia
Biomedical Engineering

Allison researched current assessments of muscle function for neuromuscular diseases that rely on a patient’s ability to complete tasks, excluding those with anxiety and cognitive challenges. She uses ultrasound imaging and modeling to develop new ways to estimate patient function directly from clinical muscle measurements that will improve treatment decisions and therapeutic development for patients.

Louise Pitcher

Minnesota Chapter Scholar
University of Minnesota
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Biophysics

Louise is studying the effects of aging on the underlying mechanisms of cellular rejuvenation and the loss of a cell's power to divide and grow. Louise’s research guides her drug discovery efforts by looking at data from multiple sources to give a more comprehensive understanding of molecular changes contributing to normal development, cellular response, and disease. Louise’s goal is to discover or improve a life-changing drug and get it to those who need it.

Sofia Sheikh

Illinois Chapter Scholar
The University of Chicago
Ecology & Evolution

Millions of years of evolution have resulted in a vast diversity of organisms; yet recent studies show that much of this diversity originated via small changes or redeployment of old genes rather than the evolution of new ones. However, the mechanistic basis of this genetic co-option process remains unclear. Sofia is investigating the evolutionary origins and functional basis of co-option using swallowtail butterflies, in which mimicry has evolved by repurposing a gene that controls sex differentiation across insects. These understandings can teach us about microevolutionary processes such as gene co-option; they can also inform how to approach conservation issues as species deal with rapidly changing environments.

Harrison J. V. Sims

Metro Washington Chapter Scholar
Johns Hopkins University
Biomedical Engineering

Harrison's research involves the development and evaluation of a novel syringe organizational tool meant to reduce anesthesia delivery errors and improve operating room safety.

Jessica Lorraine Stelzel

Metro Washington Chapter Scholar
Johns Hopkins University
Biomedical Engineering

Jessica's research seeks to understand the mechanism(s) by which a novel nanofiber- hydrogel composite material is remodeled in vivo into vascularized soft tissue by infiltrating host cells. Her research will leverage this information to optimize its formulation, thus developing an improved off-the-shelf material with enhanced capacity to achieve natural tissue restoration.