Sydney Pimentel
Role
Graduate student / MD-PhD trainee; emerging independent scientific leader.
Main Projects
microRNA ON-gates
- High-priority Sendai vector project using Lin28/let-7-based logic.
- Has generated vectors whose payload expression can be restricted to cell types defined by a single microRNA.
- Successful versions include neuron-, hepatocyte-, and hematopoietic-cell-associated systems.
- Major proof of concept: one vector green in everything but neurons and one red only in neurons.
- Brain-organoid proof of concept in collaboration with Andrea Brand's lab.
- In vivo mouse-brain studies with Dick Chen's lab.
R2 / PRINT system in Sendai
- Side project based on prior gap-year work in Cathleen/Cathrine Collins lab at Berkeley.
- Uses an R2 retrotransposable system that integrates into ribosomal DNA.
- Placed PRINT system into Sendai and showed that it works.
- Current challenge: improve efficiency and define the publishable story.
Current Priority
Complete the microRNA ON-gate manuscript; return to the R2/PRINT project afterward to maximize story strength before thesis defense.
Expertise
- RNA circuit/vector design.
- Sendai vector engineering.
- In vivo validation.
- Cell-type-specific payload restriction.
- R2/PRINT adaptation.