Nancy

Nancy
Worcester Technical High School
Worcester, MA

Mentor:
Guillermo Barreto Corona
Epigenomics | Epstein Lab 
 

Nancy told us that BSSP would allow her to “immerse myself further in science.” She did just that after being tasked to optimize new sequencing technologies that will revolutionize how we study the epigenome and the transcriptome in single cells. Scientists at the Broad Institute developed a novel technology called Share-Seq, capable of assessing chromatin accessibility and gene expression exchanges simultaneously in single cells. The first step of Share-Seq involves the isolation of single nuclei from tissues so that downstream sequencing steps can be performed. During the summer, Nancy and her partner Nick worked on optimizing the nuclei isolation protocol of mouse brain tissue. They successfully identified the appropriate nuclei isolation conditions for this tissue type by altering the iodixanol density gradient to recover the greatest amount of nuclei while excluding cellular debris. Their work has direct implications for the SHARE-Seq pipeline and downstream bioinformatic studies. Throughout BSSP, Nancy showed us that she was excited to explore the great unknown and proved to be an incredible critical thinker. Nancy said that “BSSP significantly enhanced my ability to communicate effectively and conduct innovative research that will help people in the future. The supportive environment aided my confidence to explore interdisciplinary pathways.”