CHRISTIN CUDAHY

As a chemist on the conjugation team, I work on oligonucleotide and linker design, synthesis and optimization for siRNA and mRNA drug delivery research. This work focuses on:

• Troubleshoot and optimize multi-step synthesis routes to create novel backbones for new ADCs and other bioconjugates based on data analysis of past conjugates
• Synthesize bioconjugates 
• Purify oligonucleotides and their subsequent bioconjugates 
• Update the Conjugation Record and Queue
• Check and update the in-house oligonucleotide and bioconjugate inventory 

I also got the opportunity to work as the lead scientist for three months while my manager was in China. During this time, I had the opportunity to do more management work which included (on top of my original responsibilities):

•  Assist on patent application writing (experimental and results section)
• Determine the next linker constructs to be tested next by previous data results
• Register new compounds
• Create new synthetic pathways for novel compounds

At InBios, I was a vital part of several teams

• My main purpose was to create, fix, and maintain the membrane (including the test and control lines) for LFIAs
• On the R&D team, we created the solutions that go into the spray for LFIA lines (control and test)
• Working with the Manufacturing team - there are many unforeseen problems when going from small quantities to making a million tests a month so the transfer and manufacturing teams must coordination to see where there are problems in the manufacturing stage to continuously update the tests until there are no more problems
• On the transfer team, we worked to create LFIA layouts, ingredients, spray solutions, etc. for infectious diseases (such as Covid-19, Influenza, Zika, VL Human, and many others) then create the methodology needed to take them large scale as well as continuously checking the long-lasting stability of products sent out

While Chemistry is my priority, my parents needed assistance during covid so I made the difficult decision to leave the Organic Chemistry PhD program with my MS in Organic Chemistry and move back to Santa Barbara. As a favor to one of my high school teachers, I agreed to take on the full five course teaching load and two additional courses to cover for two teachers that could not teach in person due to personal health reasons.

• Clases taught: two Pre-Calculus classes, two Algebra 2 classes, one Honors Pre-Calculus class, one 5th grade math class, and multivariable calculus
• For each class, I had the responsibility of creating and teaching lessons as well as homework and exams, grade all the work done, keep the gradebook up to date, be available to meet with students and parents, attend faculty meetings each week, assist with the STEM program by giving presentations on my own research as well as help students create their own research projects.
• Through teaching, I learned and improved on skills so I can now proficiently speak in front of large groups of people, teaching concepts, problem-solve and multitask without stress.

The manuscript abstract for the paper to be published in JOC describing the research I collaborated on at UCSC:

Achieving drug-like cell permeability and oral bioavailability becomes increasingly difficult as molecular weight increases beyond ~600 Da. However, some cyclic peptides defy this trend, showing high passive permeability and oral bioavailability (BA) even with molecular weights exceeding 1000. Based on a series of published synthetic cyclic decapeptides with exceptionally high oral BA, we generated two libraries of derivatives in which we replaced pairs of N-methyl residues with N-alkylglycine (peptoid) residues and investigated their physico-chemical, ADME, and PK properties. NMR temperature shift experiments and hydrocarbon-water partition coefficients indicated very different structure-property relationships depending on the location of the peptoid substitutions. Like the parent compounds, our cyclic peptomer derivatives had high passive membrane permeabilities, although our compounds had much lower oral BA due to high efflux and fast metabolic clearance. Oral dosing in the presence of both cytochrome P450 (ABT) and p-glyclprotein (GF) inhibitors had a strong synergistic effect, causing a dramatic increase in oral BA. Our studies indicate that the in vivo PK properties of >1000 MW cyclic peptide-peptoid hybrids can be predicted based on relatively simple physico-chemical measurements. These results, taken together with recent studies on smaller scaffolds, suggest that the effect of peptide-to-peptoid substitutions on ADME and PK properties, while scaffold-dependent, can be predicted and managed when reflux and metabolism are taken into account.

• As a QC Chemist, my primary duty was to measure and test the organic and inorganic products. 
• Every day I began my 12-hour shift by calibrating, maintaining and operating the lab equipment and instrumentation. 
• For new products, new analytical protocol procedures and standardized solutions had to be developed to analyze the physical and chemical properties. This included analytical methods for GC, HPLC, LCMS, MS, NMR, wet chemistry, and many more. 
• Being a QC Chemist at Chem Design is a high-pressure, independent, and mentally-challenging job since it requires going working 4:30-16:30 and 16:30-4:30 shifts every four days on your own. Learning how to thrive in a high-pressure and detail oriented job showed me that I can do well in even the most challenging and demanding of jobs.

• Professor Samet, Analytical Chemistry: My Analytical Chemistry Research project with Professor Samet practiced matrix isolation with polymers using vacuums and FTIR. We first used CaF2 glass plates then we used KBr glass plates and adding five layers of the polymer poly (4-vinypyridine-co-styrene) and vacuum pumping acetylene and argon gas onto the plate to see how well the polymer can absorb acetylene into the multiple layers. We studied the reaction at 16 K, 19 K, 21 K, 23 K, and 28 K. The different temperatures controlled how quickly the parent polymer disappeared. This research could be very important in creating new medicine and being applied to many nanotechnological techniques.
• Professor Holden, Organo-Iron Chemistry: This research require myself and one other undergraduate student to create a never molecule and thus creating our own protocol. Beginning with working with ferrocene with the original substituent of a carboxyl group. Then we attempted to change that substituent into a pyrimidine using an enaminone. We managed to changed the substituent into an amine, the second to final step, but the final step was not pure. This research is important because lots of people are trying to replace aromatic groups with ferrocene because they are better compounds for medical use.

• General Chemistry I & II Lab, Organic Chemistry I & II Lab: Assist the professor by answering students’ questions, general explanation of the experiment, replace broken glassware, collect and return lab reports, take over teaching if the professor got called away or couldn’t come to lab, grade lab reports following a rubric.

• GPA: 4.0

Courses Taken

Courses TA’ed

Major: Chemistry
Major GPA: 3.4

• Lab work done in undergrad courses: Biology of Behavior (1 semester), Advanced Organic Chemistry (1 semester), Organic Chemistry (2 semesters), Thermodynamics and Kinetics (1 semester), Modern Chemical Analysis (1 semester), Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy (1 semester), Inorganic Chemistry (1 semester), Structure and Function of Biomolecules (1 semester), Physics for the Life Sciences (2 semesters)
• Research (1 year) - physical chemistry focused on polymer-surface interactions
• Research (1 year) - Organo-iron synthesis and methodology development 

Minor: Math
Minor GPA: 3.6

• Relevant Courses: Introduction to Linear Algebra, Single and Multivariable Calculus, Discrete Mathematics, and Integration and Infinite Series