Britney Martinez
-Scholar-
Cohort: 2018-2019
Faculty Mentor: Steven Bradfute
Department: Global Health
Home Institution: Northern New Mexico College
Research Interests: Microbiology, specifically deadly pathogens
Scholar Description
I was born and raised in Ohio and moved to New Mexico when I was 23. I graduated from New Mexico College in May 2018 with my A.S. in Chemistry and B.S. in Biology with a concentration on Cellular/Molecular Biology. During my time at Northern New Mexico College, I developed a passion for research and worked under the guidance of Dr. Mario Izaguirre-Sierra on the localization and function of the Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) gene in Arabidopsis thaliana using Escherichia coli and established the Physcomitrella patens Poladenylation Tag-Seq project. During my undergraduate degree, I participated in two summer research programs; Undergraduate Pipeline Network Program-UPN (University of New Mexico) and Research Experience for Undergraduates in Molecular Biology and Biochemsitry (Colorado State University). My project during the UPN program in 2016 was the Glycosylation Patterns of Different Filovirus Glycoproteins Generated in Various Cell Types with Dr. Steven Bradfute. During 2017 at Colorado State University with Dr. Jeffrey Wilusz and Dr. Daniel Michalski my project was the characterization of Zika Virus Subgenomic Flavivirus RNAs (sfRNAs) and their role in host cell cytotoxicity and Pathogenesis. During my time as a PREP scholar, I will be working in Dr. Steven Bradfute's laboratory on determining in vitro mutation rates of filovirus glycoprotein mutants against monoclonal antibodies and polyclonal antibodies and analyzing the epitopes affected by filovirus glycoprotein mutation and determine fitness fo the escape mutants. Outside of the lab, I enjoy relaxing by playing video games, watching horror movies and any opportunity to enjoy pizza and mozzarella sticks!
