Research Laboratory Assistant
Resume:
Callahan McGovern
214-***-**** ************@******.*** San Francisco, CA
Skills Summary
Computer: R, Bash, Python, SQL, MS Office
Molecular: NGS Library preparation, GridIon Sequencing, Illumina Sequencing, Sanger Sequencing, DNA/RNA extractions, PCR, q-PCR, Electrophoresis, Chromatography, Microscopy, Culturing Languages: English (native), Polish, Spanish
Education
University of North Florida, M.S. Molecular and Cellular Biology GPA: 4.0
Thesis: Identifying novel taxa, using NGS technology to investigate microbial communities from extreme environments, and creating tools/pipelines for microbial sequencing analyses.
Aug 2021 – June 2023
UC Davis Bioinformatics Core, Workshop in scRNA-seq Analysis Participated in a workshop covering experimental design, data generation, and analysis of next generation single cell RNA sequencing data. August 2022
University of North Florida, B.S. Molecular and Cellular Biology Summa Cum Laude – GPA 3.81
Research Assistant in Dr. Casamatta’s Laboratory
Aug 2018 – July 2021
University of North Florida, Certificate in Biotechnology Performed RNA isolation, cDNA synthesis, PCR, cloning, protein extractions, and western blots in a molecular techniques’ lab at the University of North Florida.
Jan 2020 – July 2021
Research Experience
Dr. Marie Mooney Research Laboratory
University of North Florida
July 2022 – June 2023
● Researching changes in wild type vs NGLY1 mutant mouse brain tissue using Single Cell RNA sequencing data analysis with the Seurat package in R.
● Tailored the Seurat pipeline to investigate and visualize scRNA-seq data Dr. Dale Casamatta Research Laboratory
University of North Florida
May 2019 – June 2023
● Investigating microbial samples from a sulfuric sinkhole using NGS multi marker metabarcoding analyses in R. Led the project from planning, researching, and performing all the library preparation and sequence analysis from the ground up. (R packages used: Dada2, phyloseq, dyplr, vegan, and more).
● Co-author of CIMS: a Python application to cleave 16s rRNA ITS regions into motifs for RNA secondary structure analysis, automating a manual method used in many cyanobacteria phylogenetics pipelines.
(https://github.com/nlabrad/CIMS-Cyanobacterial-ITS-motif-slicer)
● Researching evolutionary relationships and discovering novel cyanobacterial taxa using 16S rRNA phylogenetic analyses and ITS rRNA comparisons. Utilizing command line to trim, filter, and organize 2
sequences and to access a remote computing cluster for phylogenetic analyses of hundreds of sequences.
(Including MrBayes, IQ tree, RaxML, JmodelTest, and cutadapt). Dr. Petr Dvorak Research Laboratory
Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic
August 2022 - June 2023
● Using both full genome and 16s rRNA sequences to investigate phylogeny of Microcoleus (Cyanobacteria).
● Gathered ~1,500 sequences from GenBank, concatenated with 16s rRNA from ~150 full genome seqs, then ran an alignment and phylogenetic analysis of the dataset on a computing cluster. Relevant Professional Experience
Genomics Intern at The Every Company
San Francisco, CA
July 2023 - Present
• Genomic analyses of yeast for recombinant protein production. Process includes gDNA extraction, GridIon NGS library preparation, sequencing, assembly and annotation of yeast strain genomes.
• Researching ribosomal heterogeneity in large genomic datasets of yeast strains. Graduate Teaching Assistant
University of North Florida
May 2020 – May
2023
● General Biology I and II Laboratory instructor for three sections of 24 students each.
● Received the highest reviews of the department for three consecutive terms. Data and Research Committee
University of North Florida
May 2021 – Jul 2021
● Designed and implemented an R script to clean and analyze raw student metric information from the school’s system into easily readable plots and tables. Reduced the worker-hours needed to process and analyze the data and the time required every term. Supplemental Instruction Leader and SI Leader Mentor University of North Florida
Jan 2019– May
2021
● Developed lesson plans and organized study sessions for 150-person biology and chemistry courses.
● Instruction led to a decreased fail rate of 60-70% among students in courses.
● Supervisor of 15 other Supplemental Instruction leaders. Chemistry Intern
Green Water Laboratories
Jan 2020 – Aug
2020
● Performed chemical analysis to quantify cyanotoxins in water and tissue samples including Isolation and quantification of compounds in mixtures using HPLC.
● Redesigned the sample analysis tracking system to create a more efficient analysis logging process. Manuscripts
C. A. McGovern, A. R. Norwich, A. L. Thomas, S. E. Hamsher, B. A. Biddanda, A. D. Weinke, D. A. Casamatta. Unbiased analyses of ITS folding motifs in a taxonomically confusing lineage: Anagnostidinema visii sp. Nov. (Cyanobacteria). Journal of Phycology.
N. A. Labrada, C. A. McGovern, A. L. Thomas, A. C. Hurley, M. R. Mooney, D. A. Casamatta. The CIMS
(Cyanobacterial ITS motif slicer) for molecular systematics. Fottea. 3
Talks
C. McGovern, Aimee Thomas, Dale Casamatta, Sarah E. Hamsher. 2022. Identifying novel cyanobacterial species using a blind secondary structure clustering approach. Poster presented at the Phycological Society of America Annual Conference. C. McGovern, Dale Casamatta, Sarah E. Hamsher. 2020. Cyanobacterial Diversity from Lake Huron Sinkhole Microbial Mats: Is everything everywhere? Oral presentation at the Southeastern Phycological Colloquia.
C. McGovern, Dale Casamatta, Sarah E. Hamsher. 2021. Novel Cyanobacterial diversity from Lake Huron Sinkhole communities: descriptions of Geitlerinema visii, Phormidesmis tabulatum, Jaaginema sulfurea, and Microcoleus communis. Oral presentation at the International Phycological Congress. Grants & Awards
Hoshaw Travel Grant awarded by Phycological Society of America. June 2022. Travel Grant from the Biology Department at the University of North Florida. June 2022. Graduate Travel Grant from the University of North Florida. June 2022.
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