Victor Lopez del Amo. Principal Investigator
I was born in Spain (Valencia), and I obtained my Ph.D. in Biomedicine and Biotechnology at the University of Valencia using Drosophila as a model to study rare neurodegenerative diseases. In 2017, I decided to have an experience abroad and started my postdoc at the University of California, San Diego, working with Valentino Gantz, one of the pioneers of CRISPR-based gene-drive technologies. During my postdoc, I developed several genetic approaches to control mosquito populations and potentially reduce the burden of vector-borne diseases. Since summer 2022, I have had the opportunity to start as an independent investigator at the UTHealth Science Center in Houston.
Christina Nguyen. Research Technician
I graduated from the University of Houston - Downtown with a B.S. in Biology (May 2022). During this time, I was involved in two different projects. First, I studied the effects of sleep quantity on neurological behaviors using Drosophila melanogaster. Later, I studied pine oil’s effectiveness and its bio-friendly properties to potentially replace xylene (a toxic reagent used in histology) in histological stains such as Hematoxylin and Eosin and Masson’s trichrome. Now, I decided to join as laboratory technician in the Lopez Del Amo Lab at UTHealth in Houston to keep growing as a scientist.
Suha Soni. Master student
I obtained my bachelor's degree in Medicine specializing in intensive care. It was after the COVID-19 pandemic that I realized the importance of a robust Public Health Infrastructure. Now, I am a master student within the School of Public at the UTHealth-Houston. Infectious diseases have always been my interest, and I want to learn more about genome editing and its application in Infectious Diseases. My long-term goal is getting into an Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency followed by a fellowship in Infectious Diseases.
