Alex Chagovetz, PhD

Experience

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  University of Utah, Department of Neurosurgery

  Mar 2009 - Jan 2011

  Research Technician

  • Responsible for making all reagents used for experiments in the lab.• Prepared human tumor samples for microcalorimetery experiments.• Maintained and propagated human cancer cells lines and prepared cell culture samples for microcalorimetery experiments.• Optimized, troubleshot and performed microcalorimetery experimental protocols.• Interpreted, edited and analyzed data from a digital microcalorimeter experiments.• Presented research findings at university-wide assemblies.• Worked closely with clinicians in creating a personalized diagnostic assay for predicting patient response to therapy.• Drafted and edited research manuscripts for peer-review publication. Show less

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  University of Utah, Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy

  Jan 2011 - Aug 2012

  Laboratory Technician I

  • Developed protocols for surgically removing, plastic embedding, sectioning and staining of optic nerves.• Oversaw day-to-day management of the mouse colony.• Trained junior and senior technicians on assays that I had developed to probe the mechanisms of microglia-mediated neuronal degradation.• Generated high-quality data that resulted in 2 publications.• Interfaced with company representatives to coordinate demonstrations of instruments and products for the lab.

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  University of Utah

  Aug 2012 - Oct 2022

  • Designed, optimized and executed novel immunological assays using flow cytometry and microscopy to lead in the development of novel immunotherapies for cancer treatment.• Oversaw day-to-day operations of the lab and mouse colony while also managing the work-flow of junior technicians.• Trained and certified for ethical surgical procedures on live animals.• Facilitated in establishing a new research program by writing new lab protocols and standard operating procedures while also coordinating instrument/supply ordering and inventory.• Oversaw the curation of the departmental gastrointestinal clinical tissue bank.• Established collaborations on clinical research projects and tissue collections with academic research teams both within and across institutions. Show less • Simultaneously lead the development of multiple independent research projects directed at understanding the relationship between intracellular calcium release and muscle fiber specification and maturation. • Conceptualized, optimized and executed complex assays using high-resolution immunofluorescence confocal microscopy for imaging of fixed tissue as well as selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM) for imaging of fluorescently-labeled tissue in live animals.• Maintained zebrafish colony and mastered concepts of CRISPR-Cas9 to generate single, double and triple knock-outs as well as fluorescent reporter lines.• Developed qPCR and in situ hybridization assays to probe expression patterns of genes of interest during development.• Mentored and trained an undergraduate technician for 4 years and aided in her successful transition to a Ph.D. program at UCSD.• Actively sought out additional teaching and mentoring opportunities by volunteering as a teaching assistant for undergraduate and graduate biology courses.• Lead collaborations with research groups at the Upstate Medical University, University of Ohio and the University of Utah.• Excelled in written and oral communication skills. Authored two publications, one of which was published in Developmental Cell, and was selected to give an oral presentation at the regional meeting of the Society of Developmental Biologists.• Received multiple travel awards to attend professional conferences and was awarded first place in the poster competition at Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Meeting. Show less

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow/Lab Manager

    Dec 2018 - Oct 2022

  • Graduate Research Assistant

    Aug 2012 - Dec 2018
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  University of Utah - Employment

  Aug 2019 - Oct 2022

  Research Scientist
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  Nelson Labs

  Sept 2022 - Oct 2023

  Project Manager
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  Sterigenics

  Oct 2023 - now

  Manager