Ph.D.-trained scientist in the biology of aging, applying rigorous experimental design and scientific judgment to questions where confidently-wrong answers are common. Routine user of Claude and Claude Code for analysis, coding, and literature work; interested in building evaluations that probe where frontier models fail in biology, identifying capability gaps in experimental planning, data interpretation, and mechanistic reasoning.
Buck Institute for Research on Aging & USC, Garrison Lab
Buck Institute: world's first independent research institute devoted exclusively to aging biology
USC: world's oldest & largest school of gerontology, home to the first Ph.D. in Gerontology
Dissertation: Cell Non-Autonomous Regulation of Aging and Stress Responses in C. elegans
- Discovered that the neuropeptide nematocin, an oxytocin/vasopressin homolog, suppresses the heat shock response in C. elegans. This is the first known endogenous inter-cellular signaling molecule identified with this function; first-author manuscript in preparation.
- Demonstrated tissue-specific, age-dependent regulation of autophagy and HSF-1 activation using fluorescent reporter strains, confocal microscopy (Zeiss LSM980 Airyscan), and image analysis pipelines (Imaris, ImageJ, CellProfiler).
- Built RNA-seq differential expression and pathway enrichment pipeline in R (STAR, DESeq2, clusterProfiler), identifying 42 differentially expressed genes after heat shock, including 1.9-fold upregulation of autophagy receptor gene sqst-1.
- Established lifespan, thermotolerance, and RNAi workflows using novel C. elegans strains generated via genetic crossing; demonstrated autophagy-dependence of the survival phenotype via lgg-1 RNAi knockdown and Cox proportional hazards modeling.
- President (2024–2025) and Vice President (2023–2024) of the Buck Institute Multicultural Trainee Association, where I recruited and led a five-member team delivering professional development, institute-wide events, and STEM outreach to underrepresented Bay Area schools.
UCSF, Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine, Brack Lab
One of the world's leading stem cell and regenerative medicine centers; $113M Broad Foundation investment spanning muscle, neural, and cardiac regeneration research with direct clinical translation programs
- Isolated and characterized satellite cells from murine skeletal muscle to study age-associated changes in stem-cell function; performed cryosectioning, immunostaining, and flow cytometry to evaluate lineage composition and regenerative potential.
Varian Medical Systems (now Siemens Healthineers)
Global market leader in radiation therapy (>50% worldwide market share); acquired for $16.4B (2021)
- Designed and executed in-vitro assays evaluating DNA-damage and repair mechanisms following radiation exposure; isolated and processed PBMCs from human samples; contributed to AACR 2019 conference abstract.
Rodriguez A.T. et al. "Neuropeptide Regulation of the Heat Shock Response." Manuscript in preparation (Garrison Lab).
Wang W., Flury A.G., Rodriguez A.T. (co-first), et al. "A role for worm cutl-24 in background- and parent-of-origin-dependent ER stress resistance." BMC Genomics 23, 842 (2022).