Adrian

Harris

Adrian received his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Georgia. As an undergraduate, he worked in the Medlock lab, where he (1) investigated potential regulatory roles of Peroxiredoxin 5 (PRDX5) on proteins of the heme metabolome and (2) examined the role dimerization plays in Progesterone Membrane Receptor protein 1’s (PGRMC1) ability to bind to heme. He then worked for Omega Bioservices, a service company stemming from the larger Omega Bio-tek. His roles encompassed DNA/RNA library preparation as well as sequencing of WGS and metagenomic projects through Illumina platforms. Most recently, he conducted research in the Kwong lab at Georgia Tech, (1) assisting in the formulation/purification of therapeutic protease sensors for in vivo sensing of protease signatures in tumor microenvironments and (2) aided in the design of assays, which coupled DNA-barcoded antibodies in traditional ELISAs with isothermal amplification techniques to increase sensitivity and specificity for the detection of viral particles. As the newest member of the Lachance lab, he hopes to investigate polygenic risk scores in African populations and changes in these scores over time.