Meet The Team!
Joshua Saldivar is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Oncological Sciences at Oregon Health and Science University. He studies how nuclear processes, such as DNA replication, transcription and repair, are coordinated during the cell cycle. He has received a Career Development Award to Promote Diversity and Inclusion from the American Association for Cancer Research and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (R35) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Dr. Saldivar received a B.S. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Arkansas, a M.S. degree in Food Science from the University of Arkansas, a Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Science from Ohio State University, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Chemical and Systems Biology Department at Stanford University.
Michael Brasino is an independent Postdoctoral Scholar in the Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research (CEDAR) center at Oregon Health and Science University. He is currently developing genetically engineered commensal bacteria as biosensing and therapeutic probes in the lower respiratory tract. He has received awards from the Collins Medical Trust and Medical Research Foundation to fund this work. Dr. Brasino’s past research includes genetic engineering bacteriophage as biosensors and protein engineering with non-canonical amino acids for new tumor targeting strategies. Dr. Brasino received a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder under the guidance of Prof. Jennifer Cha, an M.S. from the University of California San Diego and a B.S. from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Dr. Origel’s research focuses on studying the role of DNA replication stress on epigenetic instability during cancer development. Dr. Origel is also interested in how mammalian cells coordinate the processes of transcription and replication during S phase. Dr. Origel received his B.S. in Biotechnology from Tecnologico de Monterrey in Monterrey Mexico, and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from Rice University in Houston, TX.
Shawn Ichikawa is a third year undergraduate at the Oregon State University pursuing a H.B.S. in Bioengineering from Austin, Texas. He first came in contact with research in high school through the Freshman Research Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin. There he investigated the ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) that facilitate mammalian gene expression under Dr. Al MacKrell. At OSU, he is currently involved with integrating noninvasive observational and analytical technology with tissue analysis to understand pathophysiology of chronic disease and injury conditions under Dr. Heidi Kloefkorn. Shawn is interested in exploring gap year options and working in industry after graduation before possibly pursuing a PhD. In his spare time, Shawn plays tennis, takes up photography, and loves to explore the beautiful PNW!
Shelby Sawyer is a Chemistry major on a Biochemistry track and a Public Health minor at Willamette University. She has been working in the Battle Research Lab for two years on G-quadruplex-based fluorescent miRNA sensors to be used in early cancer detection. This program allowed her to expand on her previous knowledge and experience around cancer detection and exposed her to the various ways one could identify a disease. She was also drawn to the opportunity to travel and meet a diverse group of scientists outside of her University. She is hoping to continue working with genetic and/or viral diseases, focused on early prevention and detection. After graduation, she hopes to work in an academic lab gaining more experience in the diverse field of biomedical research with the intention of attending a Ph.D. program in the years following.
Matthew Tokuda is a biomedical engineering senior at George Fox University. His research interests include biomechanics particularly in the discipline of sports medicine. He chose this internship because it provided an opportunity to collaboratively work on a research project from start to finish. He plans to pursue a career in biomechanics research and apply his biological knowledge to engineering solutions.
Gavin Magill is a senior biology major at Willamette University. His interest is in the mechanisms of sensory pathways, nociception and pain pathways, and potential treatment options for sensory-related disabilities such as chronic pain. iGEM provided the opportunity to help engineer different conditional biological pathways that he wouldn’t have had access to in other research projects. Gavin Magill plans to pursue a Ph.D. in molecular systems neuroscience to continue research in sensory and pain pathways.
Chivon Ou (they/them, she/her pronouns) is a fourth-year B.S.N. student at the University of Portland. They have had experience as a nursing student serving adult and pediatric patients with wound care conditions, neuropathologies, diabetes, psychiatric disorders, and patients experiencing houselessness. Chivon has had research experience in creating nanoparticle-based gene delivery vectors and learning about the cystic fibrosis disease model in the Sahay Laboratory. She also worked in the Guizzetti Laboratory to study fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in the mouse model. Chivon joins the iGEM competition to take part and learn about engineering bacteria for a potential diagnostic tool to help support the OHSU’s Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research (CEDAR) center to detect cancer in its early stages. Chivon enjoys interacting with patients at the bedside and hopes to explore a research pathway that intersects with biomedical research and direct patient care.
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