Geena Ildefonso
Department: Chemical & Physical Biology
Faculty Mentor: Carlos Lopez, Ph.D.
Dissertation Description: Theoretical and Experimental Approaches to Cell Decision Making
My research focuses on understanding how cells are choosing to commit to a specific fate of cellular death or survival. I am particularly interested in understanding the crosstalk in the Nuclear Factor-kappaB and Necroptosis signaling pathways and how different protein-protein interactions are driving cellular commitment to a given fate. I utilize a combined approach with theoretical and experimental methods. Integrating mathematical modeling, Bayesian methods, and machine learning tools along with mass spectrometry and live-cell imagining, I am to mechanistically understand how cells are making decisions.