ushasista

About Me

I am a PhD student at the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney. I am working broadly on mirror neurons, action understanding, motor cognition, etc. I am here to make science more interesting and accessible to laypeople as well as to those in science.

My Awards & Certifications

March 2007 Indigenese Biotechnologies - Hyderabad, India

Hands-on training module in basic molecular biology techniques

2003 - 2006 CIEFL - Hyderabad, India

Certificate of Proficiency in Spanish

Diploma in Spanish

Advance Diploma in Spanish

1998 – National Children’s Science Congress - Chennai, India

Gold Medalist

Worked on a project that aimed to integrate science into the daily lives of people. Explained ways to use Tissue Culture techniques to grow vegetation that support the urban ecosystem.

2000 – Intel Science Talent Discovery Fair - New Delhi, India

Gold Medalist

Developed a hypothetical model that reduced the toxicity of waste released from cotton mills.

1998 – ‘The Hindu’ Young World Essay Writing Contest - Coimbatore, India

Winner

My Experience

Scientific Research:

Research Assistant

Performed photo frame analysis of bee-hives using imageJ software for

Dr. Andrew Barron

Place: Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behaviour, Macquarie University

Duration: 03.5 Months

Teaching Assistant

Performed duties as a demonstrator to the undergraduate students for the practical classes in the course Introduction to Brain, Behaviour and Evolution, taught by Prof. Ken Cheng

Place: Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behaviour, Macquarie University

Duration: 03.5 Months

Vocational Training

Trained in culture and maintenance of mammalian cell lines - HEK293, HL1, SY5Y and CV1

Selection and maintenance of stable cell lines

Midi-Prep and Mini-Prep

Place: Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute

Duration: 01 Month

Master’s Thesis

As part of the Master’s thesis, studied the effect of serum on the expression of BACE1 (Beta-site APP Cleaving Enzyme 1) in HEK293 cells. BACE1 is a pivotal enzyme involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease. Used basic cell culture techniques along with protein characterization experiments (protein assays and quantification, Western Blotting) during the course of the project. Used Bioinformatics tools provided by NCBI, expasy, etc. in order to study the protein of interest.

Place: Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI) - Sydney, Australia

Duration: 2 Months

Full Time Experience

April – December 2006 Deloitte Consulting India Pvt. Ltd - Hyderabad, India

Associate Analyst – Organization and Change service line

Job Role:

Worked as an Instructional Designer in a professional services environment. Developed User Manuals, Instructor Led Training materials, and Business Process Procedures. Used recording tools like InfoPak and OnDemand.

Used MS Office tools - Word, Power Point, Excel, Visio.

Used Adobe Photoshop and HTML

Developed content for training material for SAP implementation.

Developed competency in Clinical Information Systems.

Part Time Experience

Developed web content for online gaming industry, management, human resources, psychology, literature and biotechnology.

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