Projects
COVID-19 Drug Repurposing through Virtual Screening
Virtual screening is the process of using computational models to estimate the likelihood of a ligand binding to a protein. In order to identify existing FDA approved drugs that can be used for COVID-19, we conduct a virtual screening by docking an FDA approved drugs dataset to COVID-19 proteins. Repurposing drugs that have been FDA approved allows for therapeutics to reach patients more quickly, as safety clinical trials have already been peformed.
ARRTE Radiology Report Classifier
The Automated Radiology Recommendation Tracking System, or ARRTE, is an automated system at Penn that tracks patients who have been given a follow-up recommendation based on radiological imaging. Under Dr. Tessa Cook, I developed a machine learning model to determine whether a radiology text report contained a follow-up recommendation. Current work is ongoing to use state of the art transformer models.
In the press: Radiology Business, Health Imaging
Detecting Antibiotic Resistance with MALDI-TOF
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization - time of flight, or more succinctly MALDI-TOF, is a type of mass spectroscopy; essentially, a laser is used to ionize a sample which is then run through a time of flight mass spectrometer. I conducted research under Dr. Robert Jerris on antimicrobial susceptibility testing and blood culture identification using this technology. By recognizing hydrolyzed antibiotic peaks, it was possible to detect carbapennem resistant bacteria.
NeedSustenance
NeedSustenance is a website I built that allows users to review restaurants and create collections of restaurants. It also allows the sharing of such reviews and collections. It uses Ruby on Rails as the framework and MongoDB as the underlying database.
Effects of Angiotensin II on TSC
Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, or TSC, is a genetic disease that causes tumors to grow in various areas of the body. It has been suggested clinically that blocking the renin-angiotensin system can slow disease progression. Under Dr. John Bissler, I investigated the effects of angiotensin II on a renal cell model of TSC by monitoring the cells’ level of intracellular Ca2+ levels and VEGF release.
Tensegrity
Tensegrity is a structural principle wherein components are isolated from each other and held together by a net of continuous tension. The resulting structure has an ethereal quality that seems to defy gravity. I built such a structure, entitled Arbor, with twine and PVC pipe as seen below. A brief report about tensegrity can be found here.
