User:Margaret J. Oneil

Margaret J. ONeil

Contact Info

Margaret J. ONeil

• Margaret J. ONeil
• Loyola Marymount University Class of '18
• 8343 Creighton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, USA.
• Email me through OpenWetWare

I worked in the Dahlquist lab at Loyola Marymount University. I learned about OpenWetWare from my mentor and advisor, Dr. Kam Dahlquist, and I've joined to work on Dr. Dahlquist's GRNmap project.

Education

• Biology Major, Applied Mathematics Minor
• Graduated from Loyola Marymount University in May of 2018
• Upper Division Biology and Mathematics Courses Taken: BioStatistics, Urban Ecology/Urban Ecology Lab, Probability and Statistics, Microbial Genomics, Biomathematical Modeling, Epidemiology, Immunology, Applications of Molecular Biology, Linear Algebra, Cell Biology, Plant Development, General Microbiology

Career Interests and Research Experience

Career Goals

Currently aiming for a PhD in a field of bio-medical research, possibly in oncology or genetics

Research Interests

Interested in the application of mathematics to aid in the understanding of biological processes, and the application of genetics in subjects such as human health and oncology

Research experience

Thesis - Using Graph Statistics to Investigate the Properties of a Gene Regulatory Network that May Control the Cold Shock Response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

• A presentation of the culmination of work done during the duration of the Dahlquist Lab

Analysis of Potential Monoclonal Antibody Targets for Cancer Therapies

• Mentor:Sharsti Sandall, PhD., Senior Scientist, Seattle Genetics
• Presentations/Publications: Presented at the pre-clinical research and immunology group's final meeting on August 9, 2016.

Dynamical systems modeling and gene regulatory network structure analysis reveals Hap4's role in regulating the response to cold shock in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

• Mentors: Dr. Kam Dahlquist, PhD., Loyola Marymount University and Dr. Ben Fitzpatrick, PhD. Loyola Marymount University
  • Worked on this project in collaboration with Kristen M. Horstmann, Loyola Marymount University, Class of 2017
• Presentations/Publications: Presented at the 7th annual Southern California Systems Biology Conference at UC Irvine

Modeling the Dynamics of a 21-Gene, 50-edge Gene Regulatory Network Controlling the Transcriptional Response to Cold Shock in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using GRNmap

• Mentors: Dr. Kam Dahlquist, PhD., Loyola Marymount University and Dr. Ben Fitzpatrick, PhD. Loyola Marymount University
  • Worked on this project in collaboration with K. Grace Johnson, Loyola Marymount University, Class of 2017
• Presentations/Publications: Presented at the LMU Undergraduate Research Symposium and Honors Undergraduate Research Symposium on March 25, 2016. Presented at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting (part of the Experimental Biology Conference, 2016) on April 2, 2016

Predator and Prey Availability: A study of the Impact of Prey Accessibility and Watershed Conditions on the Growth Rates of Subyearling Chinook Salmon in the Salish Sea

• Mentor: Dr. David Beauchamp, PhD., University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences
• Presentations/Publications: Presented at the ACE Undergraduate Research Symposium on November 20, 2015. Presented at the LMU Undergraduate Research Symposium and Honors Undergraduate Research Symposium on March 25, 2016

Work Experience

Ongoing Work Experience

Lab Assistant at the Loyola Marymount University College of Science and Engineering Instrument Tech Lab September 2015 – Present

• Organize laboratory and equipment in laboratory such as ICPMS, GCMS, AFM and NMR.
• Prepare experiments and samples for further analysis by the biochemistry and environmental science departments
• Repair computers, including removing hard drives and installing new software.

Previous Work Experience

Pre-clinical Research Summer Intern at Seattle Genetics May 2016 – August 2016

• Performed experiments to validate targets for anti-body drug conjugates in melanoma and glioblastoma cancers.
• Used Spotfire and large data sets to identify potential targets for anti-body therapies.
• Used cell culture techniques, flow cytometry, quantitative flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, and cytotox assays to validate potential targets.

Summer Intern at the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences May 2015 – August 2015

• Worked as a research assistant and intern in the Beuachamp Lab of The University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences as a part of the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project.
• Conducted research on projected growth rates of juvenile Chinook salmon related to their survival rates in the Salish Sea based off of their diet composition and scale size.
• Performed a variety of lab tasks including dissection and analysis of diet samples, dissection of sub-yearling Chinook salmon, handling of research equipment, participation in fieldwork in Lake Washington and Puget Sound, and use of excel and R to conduct data analyses.
• Preliminary analyses show different watersheds have different prey availabilities and thus different potentials and trajectories for growth. Analyses also show hatchery raised and wild Chinook may have significant differences in diets initially in the offshore life stage

Summer Intern at Brightwater Environment Education and Community Center July 1, 2013- August 30, 2013

• Worked as a high school intern for the environmental education center at the Brightwater wastewater treatment plant, part of Washington State’s King County Wastewater Treatment Division
• Performed a variety of tasks including, but not limited to: reformatting of educational materials, creating educational displays, helping at open house events, creating brochures for the center, observing and helping in summer camps and building trails.

Additional Content on OpenWetWare

Dahlquist Lab

Dahlquist Data Analysis Team Lab Notebook

BIOL398-05

Course Wikipage

MATLAB Code Repository

Functions and Codes Here

Templates

Template:moneil5

Helpful Links

Margaret J. ONeil

Assignment Pages:

• Week 1 Assignment
• Week 2 Assignment
• Week 3 Assignment
• Week 4 Assignment
• Week 5 Assignment
• Week 6 Assignment
• Week 7 Assignment
• Week 9 Assignment
• Week 10 Assignment
• Week 11 Assignment
• Week 12 Assignment
• Week 14/15 Assignment

Personal Journal Entries:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 7 Re-visited
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Week 11
• Week 12
• Week 14/15

Shared Journal Entries:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Week 11
• Week 12
• Week 14/15

Personal Interests and Hobbies

Interests

• Service and Advocacy
  • Member of the Sursum Corda service organization at Loyola Marymount University
  • Interested in looking into how access to affordable healthcare can improve lives in the U.S. and beyond
  • Attended the 2015 Ignatian Spirituality Network's Ignatian Family Teach-In for Social Justice, sparked interest in intersection of social justice and science
  • Planning on doing a year of post-grad service upon graduation from Loyola Marymount University. Possibly through Christ House in Washington D.C., or the Jesuit Volunteer Corps
• Interdisciplinary Fields/Relationships
  • Most obvious being intersection of biological sciences and mathematics, also interested in how ethics and philosophy can play a role in science, how theology and history can be interwoven, etc.
  • Interested in these relationships because they have the ability to yield interesting findings about society and the mother culture of society while revealing more about how humans understand and interpret the world

Hobbies

• Reading
  • Favorite Books:

1. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
2. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
3. The Immortal Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
4. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
5. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

• Cooking/Baking
• Dance
  • Danced at Gotta Dance in Redmond, WA from the ages of 3-18
    • Was on a competitive team from ages 8-18
  • Favorite dance styles: tap and lyrical
• Outdoor Activities
  • Including but not limited too:
    • Hiking
    • Swimming
    • Spending time at the beach
    • Camping
• Listening to Music
  • Favorite Concerts (so far)
    • The Lumineers
    • Of Monsters and Men
    • Matt and Kim
    • Glass Animals
    • The Frights
    • Robert Delong

More Information

Why Biology?

I am passionate about biology because of the applied nature of the subject, the vastness of the discipline and because I'm fascinated by how seemingly incredibly complex living systems can be explained and understood.

Why Math?

I enjoy math because of the problem-solving. I find it incredibly satisfying to take a difficult problem and figure out the solution to it. I especially appreciate the vast applications of mathematics, from statistics and quantifying politics to modeling biological processes.