Twinkle S. Chowdhury

• Designed, planned, launched, and analyzed extensive studies with minimal supervision. Contributed to decision-making experiments for ALS gene therapy projects in Neuromuscular Diseases and Muscle Disorders Research Unit
• Established target engagement and functional assays for ALS programs using iPSC-motor neuron and mouse models.
• Supported R2D transition studies for a gene therapy program
• Generated the potency and efficacy profile of ASOs to enable the team to move to the next steps
• Performed PK studies to profile target engagement and CNS cell-type specificity of an antisense therapy
• Led projects to test the impact of various vector elements of a lead AAV candidate. This served to establish a backup candidate for a pipeline program
• Tested the safety and tolerability of combination therapy in preclinical model using two different modalities under the paradigm of ALS
• Gained experience in project management by co-leading exploratory programs

• Developed and performed assays using cell models including, but not limited to, primary rodent neuronal cultures and cell lines to validate drug target modulators
• Developed cell-based assays using U2OS and HEK293 cells for assessing mitochondrial function and homeostasis to study pathophysiological pathways involved in neurodegeneration in the context of Parkinson's disease
• Established and optimized Seahorse respirometry assays to quantify oxygen consumption rate and ATP production profile in mammalian cell models
• Optimized Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) immunoassays to study drug targets and their modulators to support the ALS team
• Performed brain and spinal cord embedding, sectioning and immunofluorescence staining to characterize transgenic mice cohort
• Laboratory Safety Officer overlooking important aspects of safety in next generation neuroscience labs
• Contributed to setting up next generation neuroscience laboratory

• Set up a new laboratory and established systems for data storage and inventory management
• Established and expanded more than 15 different transgenic mouse lines. Characterized double transgenic mouse lines generated using Cre-Lox recombination and CRISPR-Cas9 to create models of Alzheimer's Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia with special focus on the role of astrocytes
• Studied DREADD (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs)-based chemogenetic tools as therapeutic targets
• Performed virally induced transgene expression studies using stereotaxic intracranial injection of AAV vector to understand receptor signaling mechanisms in neurodegeneration
• Drafted Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) protocols and optimized Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for techniques routinely used in neuroscience research

(contracted by Aerotek and Populus)

• Worked in Drug Substance-Upstream Manufacturing Sciences & Technology Department
• Design, execute, analyze, and present process characterization experiments in support of a new cell line process
• Execute cell culture experiments on bench-scale to support manufacturing investigations, process improvements and late-stage process parameters qualification (PPQ) studies
• Process optimization (10% increase in volumetric titer); Media optimization studies (~14% increase in volumetric titer) and worked for next generation media development project
• Evaluate new technology to assist in real-time metabolite profiling by employing wireless sensors using shake flask model
• In depth knowledge and hands-on experience of upstream cell culture processes, aseptic technique, reviewing MBRs and drafting technical reports
• Assisted with BLA filing and verification resulting in filing approval for a third-party manufacturing site
• Managed 5S activities in the R&D labs and warehouse

• MS thesis project involved cell viability and cell death assays, assays for intracellular and extracellular glutathione measurement and toxicity experiments
• Studied models that combined oxidative stress and endogenous neuroinflammation using primary cortical murine neuronal and astrocyte cultures as well as co-cultures of astrocytes and neurons
• Worked on secondary projects to understand mechanisms of neuronal cell death in young versus mature neurons in the paradigms of Oxytosis
• Mentored an undergraduate student for her McNair scholarship project conducted in the Hewett lab
• Teaching Assistant experience (7 semesters). Taught courses: Anatomy & Physiology, Genetics and Biochemistry

• Contributed to project that successfully deciphered the association between a Myc-binding protein orthologue and AKAP240 in a novel central pair complex in Chlamydomonas flagella