By: Nina Notman
鈥淚 fell in love with surface science during my PhD,鈥� says Cassandra Reese. "It's really interesting and can support so many different applications," she adds.
In October 2020, Reese joined the surface science team at Roswell Biotechnologies, a life-sciences start-up in San Diego that is developing聽technology to聽鈥渞ead鈥� the sequence of DNA. The three main applications Roswell is focusing on are personalized precision medicine;聽next-generation diagnostics for infectious diseases, including the detection of COVID-19; and the storage of data in DNA.聽
The firm鈥檚 DNA sequencing technology relies on complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, or CMOS, chips.聽She uses organic molecules to functionalize the interface between the metal electrode on the CMOS chip and the聽molecular wire used to complete the sensing circuitry. 鈥淭here's a lot of fundamental unprecedented work that goes into modifying surfaces and then characterizing them at a nanoscale鈥� Reese says.
Prior to joining Roswell, Reese did a postdoc at Los Alamos聽National Laboratory (LANL) for 17 months. 鈥淚 was focused on 3-D printing for national security applications,鈥� Reese says.聽
Her postdoc was preceded by a polymer science and engineering PhD at the University of Southern Mississippi and a bachelor鈥檚 degree in chemistry at the University of San Diego.
What instruments can't you live without in the lab?
A goniometer鈥攖his tool measures the surface tension, interfacial tension, and water contact聽angle. It聽can tell us if a surface is hydrophilic or hydrophobic. And an XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectrometer)鈥攁 tool used to determine the elemental composition, chemical state, and electronic state of elements on surfaces.
What was the last experiment you ran?
Yesterday, I set up about 25 surface-functionalization聽reactions to run over night. These will be used for stability experiments to look at how our molecules behave on surfaces over the course of a few weeks.聽
What's the most exciting project you've worked on before joining Roswell?聽
3-D printing hierarchical porous heat wicks, which can be used in heat-pipe applications. Heat pipes are heat-transfer devices that have applications聽such as聽computers聽and聽nuclear reactors that work in space. Being able to 3-D print these wicks has a lot of potential to enable rapid manufacture at low cost.
Who are your mentors?
Outside of work, there are two people who I really look up to and seek advice from: my undergraduate advisor聽Peter聽Iovine聽and my graduate advisor聽Derek Patton.聽
What's the best piece of career advice you've been given?
Don鈥檛 be scared to take on new opportunities. Many people deal with impostor syndrome and failure, but you are not alone.聽Don鈥檛 ever be afraid to seek out help.
What's the most interesting object that you鈥檝e聽seen聽3-D printed?
My team at LANL and I had a lot of fun 3-D printing random things聽such as a T-Rex head or a Pikachu.聽
What鈥檚 the best thing about your current role?
I鈥檓 a surface scientist but I get to work every day with protein engineers, biochemists, mechanical and electrical engineers. It's a really good environment to be able to learn all these new things. It鈥檚 also very fast paced and that fits my personality.
Where do you see the field of DNA sequencing going in the next 10 years or so?
The ability to read DNA faster and cheaper is only the beginning, and we see a path where DNA will routinely inform tailored healthcare decisions.
If you weren't a scientist,聽what would you like to be?
I've always been into watching crime shows, like聽Criminal Minds, so I think I鈥檇 have liked to have been an FBI agent or similar.
What's the best thing about living in California?
Being close to family and the ocean. Also, the weather and being able to get really good Mexican food.
This article has been edited for length and clarity. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the view of their employer or the American Chemical 中国365bet中文官网.
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