Alejandro R
- Research Program Mentor

MD candidate at Medical College of Wisconsin

Expertise

Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Proteomics, Precision and Personalized Medicine

Bio

I am currently a second year medical student and worked in an interdisciplinary research program that focuses on high throughput quantitative proteomics and disease-induced biomarker studies. Our lab's mission is to develop and apply targeted protein quantification techniques for studying specific cellular pathways at the molecular level. By studying protein biomarkers, we are able to distinguish potential therapeutic targets for diseases. I played the trombone for over 10 years and was part of the UCLA Marching Band. I have always been very passionate about college football and basketball. One of my favorite pastimes is going to the gym and running on Santa Monica beach.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

How will personalized medicine affect the costs of medical care?

Medical care is very expensive at its current state. The outlook in personalized medicine may seem promising, however our current healthcare model may not be able to accommodate such increased expense for lower-income patients. The student may compile the various modes of personalized medicine and engineer strategies on how to implement them in our current healthcare system.

How is antibiotic usage in hospitals affecting in-patient and out-patient outcomes?

Current antibiotic treatments leave room for antibiotic resistance among patients admitted to the hospital as well as after they return home. Due to this, the negative effects of antibiotic usage could be a factor that further exacerbates negative patient outcomes. This project would rely on the student to perform diligent literature searches on in-patient and out-patient results following antibiotic usage.

Uncovering current and future novel methods used for early Type 2 diabetes screening

Type 2 diabetes affects tremendous amounts of people all across the world. A large portion of people with type 2 diabetes live their lives undiagnosed. This project would entail rigorous uncovering of our current methods used to screen patients for diabetes as well as investigating potential novel methods that would enhance accuracy and decrease the time to diagnosis. This would have massive potential to transform how we view and treat type 2 diabetes.

Coding skills

N/A

Languages I know

Spanish-Fluent

Teaching experience

I have taught high school students in STEM subjects such as Biology, Chemistry, Algebra, and Geometry for over 2 years. I focus on not only absorbing and retaining material, but also application and critical thinking. Additionally, I have been a Polygence mentor for over a year and have worked with multiple students on there research projects.