Cyrina Ostgaard

Biologist with strong background in gene regulation, development, and biochemistry. Experience with variety of immunofluorescence techniques and various genomics approaches. Experience in mentoring high school, undergraduate, and masters students in research

• Validated the capacity of genes and enhancers for these genes which are specific to one neural stem cell lineage showing accessibility in a separate lineages suggesting equal competency of differential stem cell lineages to generate the same progeny.
• Identified the role of Asense in suppressing the competency to generate intermediate neural progenitors by activating Prospero in immature neural stem cell progeny.
• Designed and validated activity of enhancer specific to a distinct neural stem cell lineage in "Cell-type-specific chromatin occupancy by the pioneer factor Zelda drives key developmental transitions in Drosophila" (2021)
• Validated the role of Earmuff and Hamlet in repressing Tailless activity in neural stem cells in "Sequential activation of transcriptional repressors promotes progenitor commitment by silencing stem cell identity genes" (2020)

• Ostgaard, C.*,Rajan, A.*, et al. (2021). "Regulation of Neural Stem Cell Competency and Commitment during Indirect Neurogenesis." Int J Mol Sci 22(23): 12871
• Quinto-Rives, N., Komori, H., Ostgaard, C., et al. (2020): Sequential activation of transcriptional repressors promotes progenitor commitment by silencing stem cell identity genes. eLife 9: e56187.
• Larson,D., Komori,H., Gibson, T., Ostgaard,C, et al. (2021). Cell-type-specific chromatin occupancy by the pioneer factor Zelda drives key developmental transitions in Drosophila. Nat Comm. 12: 7153.

• Oral Presentation; University of Michigan Drosophila Symposium (October 2024)
• Oral Presentation; The Allied Genetics Conference (March 2024)
• Oral Presentation; Cell and Developmental Biology Retreat (October 2023)
• Poster Presentation; Midwest Drosophila Conference (November 2024)
• Poster Presentation; Life Sciences Institute University of Michigan Anniversary Symposium (June 2024)
• Poster Presentation; Gibbs Conference (October 2016)

• Genetics Society of America (2023-Present)
• Association of Women in Science (2017 - Present)
• Women Excelling more in Math Engineering and the Sciences (2017-Present)
• Committee for Student Invited Speaker, University of Michigan, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology (2019-2022)
• Mortar Board National Honor Society (2016-2017)

• Excellent lab skills and attention to detail. Strong experience in immunofluorescence techniques to prepare microdissected samples and visualize protein or mRNA in fixed cells.
• Strong experimental design skills to efficiently generate data.
• Experience with R studio and Macros that promote streamlined data analysis
• Organizational skills that promote efficiency in data handling.
• Strong graphic design skills in Illustrator and Photoshop to design visually appealing models.

Outside of lab, I enjoy volunteer work that focuses on providing women in STEM mentors to young girls. I also enjoy volunteer work that allows me to get young students interested in STEM through experimental demonstrations. I also enjoy theatre and have acted in a number of shows since I was in grade school. I still continue to act and watch productions whenever I have the chance. I also have a keen interest in visual arts and enjoy drawing and watercolor in my free time.