Please join the Andersen Lab in welcoming the six summer interns selected from the Scripps Research Translational Institute Student Research Internship Program! Selected from a large pool of candidates from around the country, these bright students are motivated to learn from leading researchers at Scripps Research. The new interns are working closely with a mentor on either a wet lab or computational project to learn about the methods we use to study the emergence, spread, and occurrence of infectious diseases.
Joining the Andersen Lab remotely from Virginia to be mentored by postdoc, Josh Levy, is Jasmine Ma, a rising junior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. This summer, Jasmine is learning and applying both bioinformatics methods to analyze virus mixtures, particularly of avian influenza, found in environmental samples. In her free time, she really enjoys dancing, attending concerts, and volunteering. In the future, Jasmine hopes to work in computer science with applications in medicine and public health.
Postdoc Jyothi Purushotham is mentoring two wet lab summer interns—Weston and Eva—who will be assisting with her study of the humoral response of SARS-COV-2 patients treated with the drug, Paxlovid. Weston Wilmot is a rising sophomore at Johns Hopkins University from Encinitas, California. This summer he is learning to sequence SARS-CoV-2 from patients treated with Paxlovid. His favorite thing to do during the summer is play beach volleyball at Moonlight Beach.
Eva Ji is a rising senior at McNair Academic High School from the Jersey City/New York City area and hopes to pursue an education in biochemistry or molecular biology. She is also learning sequencing techniques to investigate the impact of Paxlovid on antiviral humoral immunity in SARS-CoV-2 patients. In her free time, Eva loves to fence, read, paint, take care of plants, and play various strategy-based games.
Andersen Lab research programmers, Chrissy Aceves and Emory Hufbauer, are working with three computational summer interns on a new feature of outbreak.info that allows users to analyze SARS-CoV-2 lineage growth rates. Aakash, Aanya, and Rithika will be working on refining and improving the outbreak.info applied programming interface (API) of outbreak.info so that users receive accurate data for mutational prevalence and growth rates.
Aakash Suresh is a rising senior from Pembroke Pines Charter High School and is passionate about the use of artificial intelligence within medicine as well as expanding his knowledge within the field of computational biology. Aakash enjoys playing basketball, going to the gym, watching Miami Heat basketball, reading, and being organized. Aanya is a rising senior from Troy High School in Michigan who is passionate about global health and computational biology. Outside of the Andersen Lab, Aanya enjoys exploring new coffee shops, traveling, and trying new vegetarian recipes!
Aanya is a rising senior from Troy High School in Michigan who is passionate about global health and computational biology. When not working on the handlers to incorporate information about the growth rates of SARS-CoV-2 lineages, Aanya enjoys exploring new coffee shops, traveling, and trying new vegetarian recipes!
Rithika is a rising senior and International Baccalaureate student at the International Academy East in Michigan. She is excited to work with the Andersen Lab and learn more about computational biology! In school, Rithika enjoys competing in Science Olympiad and HOSA, which ignited her passion for medicine and public health. Beyond academics, Rithika is deeply committed to making a positive impact in her community through volunteering and advocacy activities. In the future, Rithika plans on pursuing a career in medicine to advance equity and quality healthcare for all.
We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with these budding scientists and look forward to seeing Weston, Aanya, Aakash, Jasmine, Rithika, and Eva’s poster presentations at the conclusion of their internships.