Kaitlin Zajac
Houston,TX
Overview
2
2
years of professional experience
Work History
George H. Cook Scholar
Rutgers University
08.2024 - 05.2025
- Analyzed cfDNA fragmentation patterns, CNVs, and methylation profiles for cancer biomarker discovery.
- Mapped fragment lengths, normalized coverage, and identified high-fragmentation regions to study chromatin remodeling.
- Linked fragmentation features to Cancer Gene Census genes to identify impacted oncogenes and tumor suppressors.
- Processed methylation data and produced heatmaps highlighting hypermethylated cancer genes.
- Conducted comparative analyses using cBioPortal and MSK-CHORD to identify key hypermethylated genes and pathway activation.
- Performed data analysis and visualization using Python, R, Bash, and bioinformatics tools.
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
01.2023 - 05.2024
- Performed cfDNA extraction, genome mapping, and WGS analysis to support cancer genomics research.
- Analyzed mutational signatures, including SNPs in coding and non-coding cancer-related regions.
- Evaluated demographic influences on survival outcomes to inform cancer progression insights.
- Developed skills in HPC environments, Python, and R for data analysis and visualization.
- Built functional expertise in genomics, with a focus on non-coding mutations in cancer development.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Biotechnology
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ05.2025
Master of Science - Biomedical Sciences
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX07-2027
Skills
- Coding Languages: Java, R, Python, Bash, PHP
- Bioinformatics Techniques: Genome Alignment and Mapping, MEGA, IGV, PyMOL, NCBI-BLAST, ScanProsite, UniProt-PDB, Clustal Omega, BioEdit, Primer-BLAST
Timeline
George H. Cook Scholar
Rutgers University
08.2024 - 05.2025
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
01.2023 - 05.2024
Bachelor of Science - Biotechnology
Rutgers University
Master of Science - Biomedical Sciences
Baylor College of Medicine