RESEARCH INTERESTS
Leslee is excited to explore the use of biomaterials for drug delivery. She hopes to use her background in protein biochemistry and molecular biology to develop new and improved strategies to treat diseases.
EDUCATION
PhD, Biochemistry, Stanford University - Expected 2025
BS, Neuroscience, University of California Santa Cruz - 2016
AA, Biological Sciences, Monterey Peninsula College - 2014
LESLEE T. NGUYEN
HONORS, AWARDS, and SCHOLARSHIPS
Stanford Graduate Fellowship, 2020-2023
Undergraduate Research in Sciences Award, University of California Santa Cruz, 2016
Crown College Undergraduate Research Fellowship, University of California Santa Cruz, 2015
Dr. Winona Trason Health Science Scholarship, Monterey Peninsula College, 2014
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Biochemistry Group, Unnatural Products Inc., Feb 2020 – Sept 2020
Leslee worked with a team of biochemists and chemists to characterize engineered macrocyclic peptides for use as cancer therapeutics. She performed high-throughput screens, determined binding kinetics, quantified permeability, and measured toxicity of candidate small molecule drugs and their analogues.
Assay Development, Ontera Inc., Dec 2017 – Feb 2020
Leslee collaborated with biochemists and microfluidic engineers to optimize PCR assays for use in agricultural diagnostics in conjunction with Ontera’s non-optical solid state nanopore platform technology. She helped drive development of fast (< 5 min), accurate, high-throughput PCR assays to detect the fractional abundance of transgenes in soybeans.
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California Santa Cruz, Jun 2015 – Nov 2017
Research Advisor: Prof. Carrie Partch
Leslee worked on projects investigating the regulation of circadian rhythms. As an undergraduate, she sought to elucidate the mechanism of repression between PASD1 and core clock proteins CLOCK:BMAL1. After graduating, Leslee helped uncover the subtle biochemical differences between circadian repressors, CRY1 and CRY2, and how these differences affect their regulation of circadian gene expression.
ABOUT
Leslee grew up in the Monterey Bay area. After completing her AA at the local community college, she inched her way up the coastline to earn her BS in Neuroscience at UC Santa Cruz. Despite her love of the ocean she never learned to surf, but she remained in Santa Cruz to work at a couple biotech startups, Ontera Inc. and Unnatural Products Inc. Her eagerness to learn eventually led her to pursue her PhD in Biochemistry at Stanford! When not in lab, Leslee enjoys baking, coaxing Isaac (her sourdough starter) into making delicious loaves of bread, and doing anything creative.