Elise VanLuinen

About Elise VanLuinen

Hi! I'm Elise VanLuinen, currently a junior at the University of Rhode Island, pursuing a double major in Biotechnology (B.S.) and Cell & Molecular Biology (B.S.), and a particular interest in biochemistry. I'm on track to graduate in May of 2025 and I am an undergraduate researcher on campus under the MARC U STAR program. My ultimate career goal is to become a researcher focused on disease and drug development, aiming to make a positive impact on global health through scientific discovery.

Education

At URI, I am pursuing a double major in Biotechnology (B.S.) and Cell & Molecular Biology (B.S.).

Below is a list including some of the relevant courses I have taken:

• BTC195: Manufacturing Methods in Biotechnology
• CHM227, 228, 226: Organic Chemistry
• CMB311H: Honors Introductory Biochemistry
• CMB333: Immunology
• CMB334: Virology
• CMB341: Cell Biology
• CMB352: Genetics
• BTC405: Drug Delivery and Discovery
• CMB435: Genetics and Biology of Cancer
• CMB526: Structural Biochemistry (Graduate level)

Research Skills

Laboratory Skills

Microbiology Skills

• Bacterial transformation in E. coli following the construction of gene inserts and ligation into various plasmid vectors.
• Induction of protein expression in E. coli and harvesting of the cells for protein purification.
• Biochemical tests (O/F tests, oxidase test, production of indole, reduction of nitrates, MR-VP citrate test).
• Simple stain and gram stain.

Biotechnology and Biochemical Skills

• Analysis of protein purity and size via SDS-PAGE and Western blotting.
• Aseptic technique.
• Cell culture techniques (initiating, passaging, propagation, cell counting, mycoplasma testing, and freezing adhesive cells and cells in suspension).
• Scale up of hybridoma cells to harvest an IgG monoclonal antibody for downstream analysis.
• Harvesting of E. coli via centrifugation and sonication to prepare for protein purification.
• Protein purification using size-exclusion chromatography, affinity chromatography, and Ni-NTA column chromatography.
• Quantification of endotoxin in a protein sample using the Limulus amebocyte lysate assay.
• VLP analysis for protein folding using transmission electron microscopy.

Animal Work

• Testing of various synthesized vaccinations on murine models via intramuscular injection.
• Subcutaneous administration of melanoma cells for tumor studies.
• Tail vein blood draws from mice following vaccination at various time points for antibody titer assessments.

Immunological Skills

• Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antibody titer assessment.
• Flow cytometry analysis and sorting.
• Fluorescent microscopy.
• Staining of dendritic cells to determine levels of maturation following immunization.
• Preparation of mRNA lipid nanoparticles with analysis of encapsulation efficiency and size.

Bioinformatics Skills

• Familiar with R, Python, and general command line code.
• Genome assembly using software such as SPAdes, MaSuRCA, Flye, and Canu.
• Genome annotation using Prokka and Rast.
• Read mapping and single-nucleotide polymorphism detection using MIDAS2.
• Construction of graphs based on bacterial abundance and single-nucleotide polymorphism occurrence using PANDAS.

Presentations Elise VanLuinen

Here are some of my presentations.

CELS Undergraduate Research Symposium, December 2023

VanLuinen, E., Waite, N., Schwartz, R. Synthesizing a reference genome for Centropogon cornutus. Poster presentation delivered at the URI CELS Undergraduate Research Symposium. Given December 2023.

Stanford Summer Research Symposium, August 2024

VanLuinen, E., Walton, S., Vila, J., Petrov, D., Good, B. Monitoring changes in the African rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) microbiome in relation to translocation. Oral presentation delivered at Stanford summer research symposium. Given August 2024.

URI MARC U* STAR Annual Symposium, April 2024

VanLuinen, E. A summation of my research as a MARC U*STAR trainee.
Oral Presentation delivered at URI MARC U*STAR Annual Symposium. Given April 2024.

URI Undergraduate Research Fellows Symposium, July 2023

VanLuinen, E., Waite, N., Schwartz, R. Centropogon cornutus genome assembly and analysis. Oral presentation delivered at the URI Undergraduate Research Fellows Symposium. Given July 2023.

Annual Biomedical Conference for Minoritized Students (ABRCMS), November 2023

VanLuinen, E., Waite, N., Schwartz, R. Synthesizing a reference genome for Centropogon cornutus. Poster presentation delivered at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Students (ABRCMS). Given November 2023.

URI College of Pharmacy Undergraduate Research Symposium, April 2024

VanLuinen, E., Akter, L., Li, Y., Chen, X. Flagellin-displayed HBc VLP for HA Stem-Based Universal Influenza Vaccine Development. Poster delivered at the URI College of Pharmacy Undergraduate Research symposium. Given April 2024.

Contact Elise VanLuinen

Feel free to get in touch with me, I look forward to meeting with you soon.