Quality Assurance Research Associate/ Clinical Trial Associate

(***) ***-Leah **** § Email: Carmella leah.perazzo@Perazzo, gmail.com § Washington, B.S. D.C.

EDUCATION

Cornell University - Bachelor’s of Science in Biological Engineering: Biomedical Engineering Boston University - Currently Enrolled: Master’s in Public Heath EXPERIENCE

WALTER REED ARMY INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH- Entomology Branch, CIDR Research Associate III Sept 2018 – Sept 2024

à Project Management (Agile and Hybrid):

§ Collaboration across Entomology, Experimental Therapeutics, and Vaccine Development

§ Experimental Design, timeline tracking, risk assessment

§ Stakeholder Engagement and Deliverables: Presentations, Progress reports, MDRPP, Funders, IACUC regulatory bodies, collaborators

§ Data capture/sharing systems (LIMS), CRADA writing

§ Budget projection, cost and risk forecasting, spend rate tracking,

§ Resource Management: facilities management, staff training

§ Transport of Biomedical Materials Officer - Certified à Primary Deliverables: Project Manager/Principle Investigator

§ “Maintaining Mosquito Colonies and the Transmission of Plasmodium berghei malaria with Mus musculus (mouse)”

§ “ Laboratory-Reared Tick Colonization using the New Zealand White Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)”

à Clinical Research Associate/Quality Control Oversight - Controlled Human Malaria Infection

§ Quality Assurance Lead - SOP compliance, procedure documentation, COA tracking

§ Trial Master File - FDA regulations, quality assurance tracking and documentation.

§ International travel - biohazardous material transport

§ Plasmodium falciparum culture - Full lifecycle cell culture and mosquito infection

§ Challenge of Human Subjects - infective mosquito bite and validation by dissection, subject blood slide staining and reading for P. falciparum infection à Additional Research Oversight

§ Oral presentation and Co-author: “Elevated innate immune responses in female mice may contribute to a better protection induced with attenuated Plasmodium berghei sporozoites.” American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Conference 2022.

§ Anopheles, Aedes, Culex, and Albopictus mosquito rearing- Rearing of 9 colonies simultaneously, live feedings, membrane feedings, salivary gland dissection

§ Tick rearing- Ixodes scapularis, Amblyoma Americanum, Dermacentor variablis, Haemaphysalis longicornus experimental design, SOP writing, grant writing, data capture, rabbit handling; tick live feedings, salivary gland dissection

§ Plasmodium berghei cultures in murine(mouse) model. Assay development, experimental design, customer collaboration, project management, fee for service and SOP writing,

§ Protein characterization and investigation – western blot, cell culture, transfection, and purification, SPR analysis of protein binding kinetics

§ Vector Control - Sandfly Repellent Study, Novel Mosquito Larvicide delivery Laboratory Manager/Research Technician Sept 2013-Sept 2018 Walter Reed Army Institute of Research - Malaria Vaccine Branch, CIDR à Lab Management -Procurement, inventory, facilities and equipment maintenance coordination, animal protocol amendments

à Experimental Design, Assay Development and Data Capture Systems

§ RT-PCR for detection of murine liver stage burden RNA isolation, cDNA library development and data analysis for statistical significance. (In publication)

§ Flow cytometry: Surface receptors and intracellular cytokine staining by florescence and phenotype analysis of 8 color panel, training in panel design. (In publication)

§ HEK 293 ORF6 tissue culture; Novel transgenic Adenovirus 5 production by polyfection from plasmid, amplification and purification through Cs-Cl gradient method confirmed by Focus Forming Units assay

§ ELISA, ELISPOT assay development with novel antibody samples and data analysis

§ Protein production in E. coli – Novel plasmid by electroporation, IPTG induction, purification by nickel affinity column, and identification by Western Blot

§ In-Vivo Imaging System (IVIS) in Murine model. Optimization and Experimental, design used to detect liver stage burden of transgenic parasite infection and analysis by IVIS LuminaIII and Prism software (In publication)

§ Mouse handling – IV, IM, IP, ID, and SQ injections. Blood collection by cheek bleed and cardiac puncture

§ Mouse Tissue harvest and processing, livers spleen and lymph nodes all processed for immune cell separation followed by cytochrome

§ Immunization models - DNA via gene gun, intramuscular or hydrodynamic intravenous injection, viral vectors, cell cultures expressing antigen and adjuvant, as well as whole sporozoite vaccinations. Blood and serum collection via saphenous vein bleeding, spleen and liver tissue harvest and lymphocyte isolation

PUBLICATIONS

Messenger RNA expressing PfCSP induces functional, protective immune responses against malaria in mice, Mallory, K.L., Taylor, J.A., Zou, X. Waghela,I., Schneider,C.G., Sibilo, M., Punde,N., Perazzo,L.C., Savransky,T., et al. npj Vaccines 6, 84

(2021)

Identification of a Novel CD8 T Cell Epitope Derived from Plasmodium berghei Protective Liver-Stage Antigen, Alexander V. Pichugin, Stasya Zarling, Leah Perazzo, Patrick E. Duffy, Hidde L. Ploegh, Urszula Krzych, Frontiers in immunology, 9, 91. January 2018, https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.00091

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