Education

****-****

Quest University Canada

Squamish, BC

Senior thesis: Where we are: understanding the relationship between the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus through remapping events in a novel behavioral task.

2009-2013

Compass Montessori Secondary

Golden, CO

Research

2017-

Astellas Research Institute of America

La Jolla, CA

Associate Scientist

I am a support member for a number of projects investigating potential causes and treatment of central nervous system disorders. I also develop protocols for new techniques or methodologies that have the potential to be used in the future. Specific skills: Perfusion-assisted clearing of tissue, one-photon calcium imaging, stereotactic surgery, ELISA, western blotting, qPCR, cell culture and transfection, acute slice recording, and immunocytochemistry.

2017-2018

Daneman Lab; Nudleman Lab

University of California, San Diego, CA

Lab Assistant

I was responsible for the care and maintenance of a mouse colony and designed my own experiment characterizing the retinal vasculature structure in mouse models of oxygen-induced retinopathy. Specific skills: Colony maintenance, tissue preparation, mouse handling and injections, perfusion, and genotyping.

2016-2017

Robert Sutherland Lab

Canadian Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Lethbridge, AB

Research Assistant

I implemented my own experiment, which investigated immediate early gene activity in the entorhinal cortex as influenced by a novel behavioral task. Specific skills: Confocal and conventional stereology, advanced microscopy, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, as well as advanced animal handling techniques such as aseptic technique, basic surgery, perfusion, and behavioral tasks.

2015

Kim Prisk Lab

University of California, San Diego, CA

Undergraduate Research Fellow

I was responsible for leading a study of my own design on characterizing the lung density of endurance athletes using fMRI imaging. Specific skills: MRI data analysis, MATLAB programming, SNR analysis, physiology tests, and knowledge of experimental design.

Publications, Posters, and Presentations

2018

Hippocampus

DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22843

Accepted Article [In production]

Lee JQ, LeDuke DO, Chua K, McDonald RJ, Sutherland RJ. Relocating cued goals induces population remapping in CA1 related to memory performance in a two-platform water task in rats.

2017

Canadian Association for Neuroscience Meeting

Montreal, QC

Peer-Reviewed Abstract

Authors: Lee JQ, LeDuke DO, McDonald RJ, Sutherland RJ. Cue-place memory representation and interaction in CA1 during spatial navigation and reorientation in rats.

Canadian Association for Neuroscience Meeting

Montreal, QC

Peer-Reviewed Abstract

Authors: LeDuke DO, Lee JQ, Sutherland RJ. Population remapping in the entorhinal cortex and its role in mediating navigation in a novel water task in rats.

2016

Squamish Public Library

Squamish, BC

Invited Talk

Squamish Public Library: Speaker Series: Exploring the Role of the Hippocampus in Spatial Memory.

Canadian Center for Behavioral Neuroscience

Lethbridge, AB

Invited Talk

Summer Student Symposium: The hippocampus is not necessary for cued location or discriminative cue memory in a novel two-platform water task in rats.

2015

Quest University Canada

Squamish, BC

Quest Biomedical Journal Club

Malformations of the developing brain: an AKT3-FOXG1-Reelin network underlies defective migration in human focal malformations of cortical development.

Awards

2017

Quest University Canada

Squamish, BC

Distinction

This award is given to students whose senior thesis was the best in their graduating class.

2015

American Physiological Society

Atlanta, GA

Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship

This fellowship was awarded to students who expressed the capability to design and conduct independent research projects. I earned the UGSR fellowship from APS to fund my research with the Prisk Lab at UCSD.

Other relevant projects

2015-2016

Quest University Canada

Squamish, BC

Techniques in Cellular and Molecular Biology

I worked in a molecular biology lab developing methods of cloning and purifying T7-RNAP by transforming competent E. coli cells, and designing riboprobes. Specific skills: Miniprep, plasmid design and cloning, competent cell generation, PCR, primer design, Gel electrophoresis of DNA, RNA, and proteins, protein purification, and construction of different buffers and growth media.

Biostatistics

I was responsible for professionally analyzing data of small island biodiversity collected by a tutor at Quest University Canada. Specific skills: Advanced programming in R, extensive knowledge of statistics.

Work & Service

2016-2017

Squamish Hospice Society

Squamish, BC

Volunteer

As a volunteer, my role is to speak to hospice patients or families to provide comfort and stand vigil with individuals during the last 72 hours of life if they do not have family currently with them.

2015-2017

Quest University Canada

Squamish, BC

Quest Molecular Biology Journal Club- Founder & President

I founded a club for students to seminar and communicate recent publications in molecular biology. The club was founded in September 2015, and now has 50 members.

Quest Pre-Medical Society- President

The premedical society is a club that aspires to guide students who are interested or pursuing a premedical track. As president, I have organized book-lending programs for study materials, databases of health professionals willing to be shadowed by students, and established a relationship with the faculty and admissions head to convey these resources to future QUC students.

Peer Tutor

I was a subject specialist for organic and inorganic chemistry, genomic medicine, statistics, and edited proposals to the research ethics board. I also tutored quantitative reasoning and rhetoric.

2014-2016

Urban Alpine

Squamish, BC

Ski Technician

At urban alpine, I worked to restore and maintain a rental fleet of skis, as well as freelance work.

2014

Quest University Canada Student Affairs

Squamish, BC

Staff member

I was hired as a summer employee and designed a curriculum for a summer program for high school students. I also organized housing and finances for the incoming class of 2015.

Skills & Techniques

Highly organized, and independently motivated

Strong communication skills

Strong background in quantitative reasoning and science

Programming and software experience in MATLAB, Flojo, R, Python, and SnapGene

Experience in behavioral techniques including aseptic technique, stereotactic surgery, and euthanasia

Expertise in stereology and confocal microscopy

Knowledge of wet-lab techniques including flow cytometry, gene cloning, plasmid design, PCR/qPCR, gel electrophoresis, cell transformation, IHC, western blotting, ELISA, and ICC

Proficiency in advanced techniques such as perfusion-assisted clearing of tissue, one-photon calcium imaging acute slice recording

Experience in cell culture and transfection of primary neurons and neuronal stem cells

Extracurricular Interests

Member of the women’s racing team with the San Diego Bicycling Club

Member of the Mysterious Galaxy Writers’ group

Enthusiastic skier, rock-climber, and painter.

References available upon request

Contact this candidate