Phuong Le

• Year

  2022

• Program

  AI in Sci

• Institution

  UC San Diego

• Field of Study

  Biological and agricultural sciences

Phuong completed her PhD in nanotechnology and single-molecule imaging from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Here, she developed a new technology to understand how environmental inputs trigger cell fate, such as division or cell death, in homeostasis and pathogenesis processes. As a Schmidt Science fellow working at the Yeo Lab, Phuong has pivoted into an ambitious interdisciplinary plan to combine her bio-imaging technology experience with stem cell technologies and transcriptomics to study RNA localization in the context of neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Now, as a Schmidt AI in Science postdoctoral fellow, Phuong will be working with Dr. Gene Yeo and Dr. Alon Orlitsky to apply machine learning and decipher the rules of RNA localization in motor neurons derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. An understanding of RNA localization rules and the ability to predict localization of an artificial RNA sequence will be instrumental for RNA drug design. Phuong is excited about working across disciplines to better understand and cure neurodegenerative diseases.