Jessica A. San Juan

Spin off of Carmot Therapeutics -Project Lead for external collaboration -Established orthogonal cell-based assays and successfully miniaturized assays into 1536W with improved Z' of >0.70 and S/N at 10x fold -Defined HTS screening triage efforts for internal team members to achieve both collaborator and corporate goals -Oversee drug discovery project progress from library synthesis to hit confirmation, and hit resynthesis -Design and execute compound profiling of resynthesized hits -Manage 5 team members within collaboration

Merged with Roche

-Collaborate and design a research-based seminar (UC Davis FYS CURE) for 18 first-year and transfer students to study protein aggregates involved in human disease resulting in the development of lab skillsets, exposure to research, and valuable mentorship -Taught General Chemistry (400+ students) and Inorganic Chemistry (80+ students) using created and organized materials during discussions and labs -Nominated by both instructors and students for the Teaching Assistant of the Year Award

I focus on the characterization of large and small molecules, specifically with proinsulin C-peptide and serum albumin interactions, which led to the discovery and identification of binding signatures, molecular internalization and trafficking processes, and intracellular metabolic behaviors. - Manage and multitask 6 individual projects investigating the structural and functional roles of co-factors with small and large molecule targets and variants leading to the expansion of the lab’s avenues with peptide systems for diabetes regarding formulation developments, cell internalization and trafficking processes, and cell-signaling metabolic pathways - Independently developed a new area of research in the lab and in the research field focused on peptide-metal and peptide-protein interactions resulting in 3 published co-authorships - Build and maintain cross-functional multidisciplinary collaborations with 2 labs (computational and physical chemistry) leading to the discovery of binding interactions associated with peptide systems and a first-author publication in JACS - Create and optimize in vitro and cell-based assay developments, primary and secondary cell culturing, and peptide synthesis methodologies resulting in 15+ SOPs for the lab’s notebooks - Provided mentorship, training, and expertise to 3 postdocs, 4 graduate, and 4 undergraduate students in peptide synthesis, biochemical assays, and microscopy and image analysis leading to independent growth and achieved project timelines - Present scientific results, ideas, and troubleshooting data effectively and concisely in biweekly meetings resulting in 5 communication honors and awards

-Elucidate binding mechanisms of a protein iron center used by bacterial pneumonia that develops resistance against the mammalian immune system by breaking down radical species, which directed a therapeutic drug approach -Utilized biophysical tools such as resonance Raman, EPR, FTIR, NMR, stopped-flow, and UV-Vis -Independently contributed to lab discoveries as evidenced by complex dataset consisting of signature binding affinities, kinetic binding parameters, and spectroscopic signatures of target protein in 1 year -Enhanced process efficiencies and productivity of isolation and purification of protein system with high yield using bacterial cell culture and affinity chromatography

-Manage the transition of the non-profit startup’s medicinal compound library database expansion for high-throughput screening (HTS) in creating new methodologies that facilitate the development of new therapeutic drug agents for oncology, chronic disease, and infectious disease pipelines. -Operated and troubleshot the Tecan and Bravo for liquid handling, plating platforms, and cherry-picking -Utilized HPLC for quality control and assurance of commercial, in-house analogs, and repurposed natural products to process >80,000 compounds for HTS -Supervised 5 undergraduate interns during the summer term to assist with compound handling and lab automation

-Determine a novel approach to modify the existing DNA barcoding method for the identification of contaminants in commercial plant based supplements with a goal of combining pyrosequencing and development of a DNA analysis database -Utilized a model system to optimize various plant pyrosequencing assays based on primer selection and reaction conditions -Generated 10 successful plant pyrosequencing assays for collaborator (Computer Science department)

-Trained to closely work in a college studio class setting with 48 or 64 students in CHEM 127/128, and CHEM 371 -Facilitate student discussion and problem-solving in both lecture and lab -Modified curriculum via meetings to continuously improve the studio environment between the professor and students

-Focus on organic synthesis, synthetic methodology, radical-mediated construction of medium-sized rings and multicyclic systems, and stereoselective radical reactions -Optimized the synthetic methodology of large molecules to study the effects of ring size on formation and stabilization during ring expansion -Expanded on efficient lab techniques and discovered new trends and solutions in data collection -Successfully synthesized and purified targeted molecules