Jiameng Zheng, Ph.D.

Technical expert of hybridoma and single B cell platforms. Oversee antibody discovery service projects using the aforementioned technologies. Development of novel methods for animal immunizations, high throughput screening assays and single-cell-based screening assays.

Facilitate and mediate collaborations on Biologics Discovery projects by working closely with clients across the globe. Communicate with cross-functional teams to ensure on time and on quality delivery of all project activities. Define scope of work and manage project timeline, budget and communications. Generate service contract proposals for potential discovery service projects. Target evaluations and pre-contract CI research.

Project Management Role -Manage research projects throughout the product life cycle. Design research strategies to meet the goals of clients. -Manage the timeline and the deliverables of research projects. Work with cross-functional teams for execution of projects and serve as a liaison between the front-end sales and the back-end R&D team. -Evaluate project deliverables, and provide scientific interpretations to the data. Update existing research strategies as needed. -Participate in the design, development and launching of new products. Formulate advertising schemes. Method Development Role: -Design, manage and execute R&D projects involving biomarker discoveries using antibody chip technology. -Responsible for the optimization of protocols and the improvement of experimental procedures to ensure quality and efficiency. -Provide scientific and technical expertise and training to both back-end R&D team and front-end BD team.

Carried out a research project funded by NSF aiming to decipher the signaling mechanism for the plant hormones strigolactone and karrikin. Accomplishments: - Independently carried out research that involves synthetic biology, genetics and protein biochemistry - Demonstrated excellent communication skills by initiating and establishing collaborations with experts in computational and structural biology to design a novel biological sensor for strigolactone signaling. - Strong leadership skills through mentoring junior lab members.

Carried out a research project funded by NSF with the aim of understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying tonoplast protein trafficking, vacuole biogenesis and fusion machinery for vacuolar membranes. Accomplishments: - Discovered a novel effect of a small molecule inhibitor on vacuole biogenesis and plant gravitropism, which led to two first author publications. - Effective communication skills through presentations to both scientists in international symposiums and non-scientific audiences in public events. - Excellent analytical and scientific writing skills through publications and dissertation writing. - Independently carried out research that involves protein biochemistry, molecular cloning, protein expression and purification, live cell imaging, etc.

- Established good communication skills by lecturing in a laboratory setting, followed by leading experiments and discussions. - Developed a teaching portfolio and obtained the Certificate of Accomplishment in Teaching.

Research focus: Aromatic amino acids are essential for protein synthesis and are precursors for secondary metabolites important for plant growth and human nutrition. The research focused on the biosynthetic pathways for phenylalanine biosynthesis using genetic and biochemistry tools. Accomplishment: Provided technical contribution to two publications.

3 first author/co-first author publications based on dissertation research Kenneth R. Keller Award for Excellence in Doctoral Dissertation Research Title of Dissertation: The Vacuole SNAREs, HOPS and Phosphoinositides are Involved in Homotypic Vacuole Fusion