MEDIA ADVISORY: 300 San Diego Unified High School Girls Take Part in Women in Biotech Conference with Nobel Peace Prize Winner

MEDIA ADVISORY
March 22, 2017
300 San Diego Unified High School Girls Take Part in Women in Biotech Conference with Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Nobel Peace Prize Winner among conference presenters at STEAM Leadership Series

WHAT: Students from SIX San Diego Unified High Schools will participate in a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) Leadership Series focused on career opportunities within STEAM fields. The Series will connect business leaders to San Diego Unified students in an effort to bridge the science, education and high-tech business communities and encourage Career Pathways that empower young women to dream big and pursue careers that will change the world.

The STEAM Leadership Series is a program of Intellectual Capital Chapple and Kids Eco Club in partnership with the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) with support from The San Diego Foundation, SDG&E, USS Midway Museum, Illumina, the Moxie Foundation, Farrell Family Foundation, and others.

WHERE: Salk Institute for Biological Studies Conrad T. Prebys Auditorium
10010 N Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, 92037

WHEN: Thursday, March 23, 2017

DETAILS:
9:15 - 9:20: Introductions:
Welcome by SDUSD / Meaning of Linked Learning in Smart City San Diego
Steve Chapple, Exec. Dir, STEAM
Becky Petitt, Vice Chancellor UCSD
9:20 - 9:40: Elizabeth Blackburn, President of Salk Research Institute, Nobel Prize Winner – "Women in Science, Health, and Biotech"
9:40- 9:50: Q&A Career PANEL

**PLEASE CONFIRM MEDIA COVERAGE PRIOR TO EVENT DATE**

Media Contact: Isabella McNeil, San Diego Unified School District, 619-341-2343 Imcneil@Sandi.net<mailto:Imcneil@Sandi.net>

[cid:image001.jpg@01D2A312.5F900AE0]Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, President of Salk Research Institute, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for discovering the molecular nature of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that serve as protective caps essential for preserving genetic information, and for co-discovering telomerase, an enzyme that maintains telomere ends. Blackburn's tenure as Salk's president began on January 1, 2016.


Dr. Becky Pettit, Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversion, and Inclusion at UCSD will briefly welcome us and introduce Dr. Blackburn
[cid:image002.jpg@01D2A312.5F900AE0]



CAREER PANEL
Asako Navarro serves San Diego Zoo Global as a Research Coordinator in Genetics.<http://institute.sandiegozoo.org/node/9> She is currently involved in a number of research projects using genetic techniques to assess populations of local endangered species such as the Stephens' kangaroo rat,<http://institute.sandiegozoo.org/node/7021> Pacific pocket mouse,<http://institute.sandiegozoo.org/node/7027> and Peninsular bighorn sheep.<http://institute.sandiegozoo.org/node/7001> Her responsibilities also include performing genetic sexing, paternity, and species identification. [cid:image003.png@01D2A312.5F900AE0] Additionally, she helps with the maintenance and expansion of the Frozen Zoo®<http://institute.sandiegozoo.org/node/7254> tissue and DNA collection.




[cid:image004.jpg@01D2A312.5F900AE0]Dr. Megan Owen serves San Diego Zoo Global as Associate Director of Applied Animal Ecology<http://institute.sandiegozoo.org/node/4>. In this role, she oversees the division's large carnivore research programs, including giant panda<http://institute.sandiegozoo.org/node/7016>, polar bear<http://institute.sandiegozoo.org/node/7080> and Andean bear<http://institute.sandiegozoo.org/node/6997> programs, establishing key links with other divisions and departments across San Diego Zoo Global, government agencies, and partner NGOs working to conserve large carnivores (primarily bears) around the world. Megan's work spans across a range of conservation applications, from conservation breeding, to developing post-release monitoring strategies, to mitigating the impacts of industrial activities in critical wildlife habitats. Megan also leads our polar bear conservation research program, focusing on building strong links between field-based and zoo-based conservation research efforts.

Pantea Khodami Manager, Market Development at Illumina, MIT
[cid:image005.jpg@01D2A312.5F900AE0]Pantea has an undergraduate and graduate degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a minor in management from Sloan School of Business. She started at Illumina ~ 7 years ago and has had both managerial and technical roles at the company. She has been a product manager, a senior application scientist and now a market manager. One of her career highlights is launching the HiSeq X Ten instrument, the system that broke the 'sound barrier' of human genomics by enabling the $1,000 genome. In her spare time, she mentors high school students applying to top universities and helps MIT with the interview process of the applicants. She has also been part of the board for MIT chapter of San Diego as the VP of Programs. She deeply believes in giving back and empowering more women to achieve their highest potential.

[cid:image006.jpg@01D2A312.5F900AE0]Ida khodami Sr Manager, Engineering at Illumina, University of Waterloo
Ida has a master's degree in Electrical and Computer engineering and after graduate school, was recruited to work at Illumina as a senior engineer. Before joining Illumina Ida worked on design and development of a biomedical device for vain detection. She holds a patent in her name for this invention and through this experience Ida found her love for engineering devices which can help human health. Ida has been with Illumina for 8 years and has led different teams from Instrumentation Design/Development to Operations (Outsourcing/Cost saving) to Consumables Software Management. She currently works in the bioinformatics department as the core team lead for a very exciting project related to Internet of Things (One part of the project that she can share is to make Illumina sequencers Smarter.) Ida loves traveling, wine tasting, cooking and yoga.

[cid:image007.jpg@01D2A312.5F900AE0]Dr. Corina Antal from the Evans Gene Expression Lab
Corina Antal, a Salk research associate in Ronald Evans'<http://www.salk.edu/scientist/ronald-evans/> lab, has garnered attention for her leading work on proteins that suppress tumor growth. The 29-year-old landed a spot on Forbes' 2016 "30 under 30" list that is comprised of "bright entrepreneurs, breakout talents and change agents" in 20 sectors. Antal was also named a Damon Runyon Fellow in November 2015 by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation for her efforts to increase the efficacy of pancreatic cancer therapies.

Dr. Elena Blanco-Suarez from the Allen Molecular Neurobiology Lab.
[cid:image008.jpg@01D2A312.5F900AE0]Research Associate, Post-doctoral researcher<https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/10095/>
• In vivo studies in CRISPR KO.
• RNA extraction, RT-PCR, transfection in primary cell and cell line cultures.
• Dissection, immunopanning, primary cell cultures, cell line cultures.
• SDS-PAGE and Western-blot.
• Cloning. 
• Immunocytochemistry and immunohistochemistry, confocal imaging.
• Data analysis, scientific writing.