Michael Hopkins

As founding member of Verily's Cell and Molecular Biology Research Team, I have contributed to numerous internal projects and external partner projects; leading the development of reliable, high-throughput cell and molecular based assays in order to generate high-quality data sets, with the goal of broadening our understanding of biological systems and elucidaiting the how those biological systems interact with the innovative products we are developing. Notable Projects: Developed high-throughput method to rapidly generate 250K+ high-quality fluorescent microscopy images of cells treated with small molecules with known mechanisms of action that were then ingested by ML/AI algorithms in order to predict mechanisms of action of novel small molecules based on phenotypic features of cells treated with those novel molecules Developed a suite of high-throughput assays (most notably a 3-dimensional tumor cell transwell assay) to elucidate the biological properties of in-house generated nanoparticles, with the goal of identifying nanoparticles formulations that are effective chemo-therapeutic delivery tools Developed a high-throughput, imaging-based, quantitative assay to assess the cytotoxicity of extracts from contact lens materials to support the Smart Lens engineering team in creating a on-demand, dynamic focus contact lens for individuals with presbyopia Developed a high-throughput in vitro flow cytometry based method to measure hepatocellular expression of proteins encoded by mRNAs delivered by nanoparticles, in order to identify formulations that provide the greatest potential to yield the most efficient gene editing results from CRISPR-Cas9/guide mRNA loaded nanoparticles Developed a high-throughput chemotaxis/cell migration assay amenable to various primary immune cell populations (T-cells, B-cells, macrophages) isolated/differentiated in-house, for testing the chemotactic inhibitory effect of novel small molecules provided by an external partner

The lab of Dr. Joseph Woo, Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University is a translational research lab focusing on the development of innovative therapeutics to help prevent the development of heart failure following myocardial infarction. Utilizing my extensive experience with cell and molecular biology I led in vitro studies to identify new potential therapies for myocardial regeneration. I also developed an exciting project investigating the molecular etiology of mitral valve prolapse by analyzing human mitral valve tissue collected during mitral repair surgeries performed by Dr. Woo.

Dr. Natalia Jura’s lab at the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute investigates the function, structure and signal transduction of signaling proteins, with an emphasis on the Human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) family kinases, critical players in heart function and various cancers. There I developed my own project focused on elucidating HER3’s ability to activate the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway and induce cell proliferation and survival. Using a variety of cell and molecular biology approaches, I tested various HER3 mutants’ ability to activate PI3K signaling; discovering certain amino acid motifs in HER3 that were essential to activation of the pathway.

The lab of Kojo Mensa-Wilmot is focused on the prevention and treatment of infections of Trypanosoma brucei, the causative parasite of Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT). My project in the lab focused on identifying potential new drug treatments for HAT. Using a panel of drug analogs to a known trypanocidal compound, I identified several compounds more effective than the original. Based on my results, I also designed several new compounds that have the potential to be highly effective against T. brucei.