Julia  Van Cleef

Julia Van Cleef

Scholar Title

MIT ChemE | Pall Biotech Research and Innovation Scholar

Research Title

Implementing a Multi-Color MicroRNA Based Reporting System for Cellular Reprogramming

Cohort

2021–2022

Department

ChemE

Research Areas
  • Biological and Medical Devices and Systems
Supervisor

Katie Galloway

Abstract

Cellular reprogramming transforms one cell type into another, enabling the generation of inaccessible cell types like neurons from easily accessible cells like skin cells. However, incomplete reprogramming is a common trend where it appears cells have correctly reprogrammed, meaning they activate the GFP reporter and fluoresce green, but they still retain their original structure, signifying unsuccessful reprogramming. In order to better parse completely reprogrammed cells from incompletely reprogrammed cells, I am working to demonstrate the successful design and implementation of a multi-colored fluorescent reporter system based on a microRNA responsive circuit.

Quote

Through SuperUROP, I’m excited to gain experience working on a long-term research project. In addition, I’m looking forward to expanding upon past work I’ve done in the Galloway lab and learning more about the field of synthetic biology.

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