User:Zach Bjornson

Zach Bjørnson (©2006 Bart Nagel)

MIT Biology 2010 - S.B. Stanford Microbiology and Immunology - graduate student (Ph.D. -- Nolan Lab)

My primary focus is in Category A/BL4 pathogens (especially ebolavirus), and on the other end of the spectrum, I'm fascinated by rhinoviruses (major cause of the common cold). In both cases, I enjoy studying emerging pathogens and characterizing their differences from already-characterized bugs. I also enjoy studying the differences in immune responses between individuals with differing symptoms/outcomes after infection with the same virus.

I have a side interest and some experience in mechanical and electrical engineering.

You can contact me at bjornson{at}stanford{.}edu or bjornson{at}broadinstitute{.}org.

Current Research and Biology Projects

• Long-term sequelae of ebolavirus infection in humans. (Nolan lab, with Hensley/Honko)
• Immune profiling during fatal and nonfatal ebolavirus infection. (Nolan lab, with Hensley/Honko)
• Identifying causal agents of fevers of unknown origin via Illumina sequencing. (Rubins lab and Sabeti lab)

Past Research and Biology Projects

• Assorted monkeypox transcriptomics and genomics; Ebola genomics.
• Research proposal: Antigenic characterization of newly detected rhinovirus variants; vaccination via polyvalent recombinant capsid protein expression. (This is a detailed proposal about 20 pages in length. Two papers that came out in early 2009 support that this project would have produced generally favorable outcomes.)
• Summer 2008: Developed a protocol to measure radical/reactive oxygen species in Gram-negative bacteria at the royal Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bangkok, Thailand. Also worked on isolating and identifying a compound (suspected to be homogentisic acid) from a Pseudomonas culture in which a certain oxidase was knocked out.
• 20.109 research proposal assignment: [enhancement of] vasculogenesis with statins and hyaluronan jelly. mock project only (wiki page)
• Optimization of Expression, Solubilization and Purification of the Membrane Protein HORF17-4 in E. coli Using Fractional Factorial Design (Zhang Lab).
• Optimization of Cell-Free Expression of Membrane Proteins with Self-Assembling Peptides (Zhang Lab)
• Cloning and Expression of UGT1A1 in E. coli (project blog)
• Airplane Drinking Water Testing for Microbial Contaminants
  • The EPA just proposed new regulations to enforce the cleanliness of drinking water served on airplanes!
  • U.S. EPA honors 37 environmental heroes at Earth Day ceremony
  • How Safe Is Airline Water? Bring Your Own Bottle!
  • Edutopia Daring Dozen 2006
  • CNN Transcripts
  • As well as others

Honors and Media

• Special Congressional Recognition for Environmental Work
• Environmental Protection Agency environmental service award
• United Nations Environment Programme youth advisor
• 2005 International Young Eco-Hero Award
• June 22, 2006 designated in Moraga, CA as a day of recognition
• Ready, set, go: Class of 2010 leaps into action. MIT Tech Talk article.
• A Genius for Leadership: MIT's Amazing Students. MIT Spectrum Summer 2007 article. (Cover page and following pages.)
• Making their own music. MIT Tech Talk article.
• See also the links above, in projects.

Lab Skills and Areas of Experience

• Molecular diagnostics (advanced design and applications of real-time PCR, etc.)
• Flow cytometry, mass cytometry (panel design, advanced analysis)
• Sequencing (Sanger, Illumina, 454, principally of viruses; including analysis)
• Microarrays (design, processing, analysis)
• Bioinformatics (as noted throughout; high-performance computing, software design; Mathematica, C++, R, Java, C#, VB, others)
• Process optimization (D-optimal and fractional factorial design of experiments; process scale-up)
• Cell culture (2D and 3D; most types of bioreactors for mammalian cell and virus growth)
• General molecular biology (protein gels, Westerns, FPLC, HPLC, Northerns, cloning, SDM)
• Various mechanical engineering skills, including systems automation, robotics and fluids handling.

Other Interests

I play organ.

I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm a vegetarian, tree-hugger, environmentalist, ... spreading San Francisco values.

And I love to travel.

Personal Sites

• Harpsichord Project Blog
• My main portal site (previously utopia.mit.edu)