Undergraduate Researcher Profile: Evelyn Wong, Single Molecule Protein Sequencing

Evelyn Wong is a senior with a joint concentration in Neuroscience and Romance Languages & Literature. She worked under the mentorship of Dr. Edward Boyden and co-mentor Daniel at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research on Developing an in-situ multiplexed single molecule protein sequencing technology since Fall 2019.  

Student's perspective:

As an aspiring physician-scientist, my interest in neurotechnology stems from my desire to develop accessible, cost-effective solutions to treating brain cancer. Being in close contact with and seeing the effects of chemotherapy—nausea, persistent headaches, fatigue—moved me to pursue a field of research dedicated to not only finding palliative solutions, but rather permanent strategies for personalized treatment. However, as I began to conduct research on cancer progression and relapse, I realized how limited we are in our approaches to studying the brain. Without fundamental technologies such as the ability to understand protein localization, our potential to elucidate and repair brain disorders is shackled to a scanty toolbox of diagnostic tests, which lack sensitivity and resolution for early detection of disease. The research project I am currently working on aims to create a new technology that will provide single-molecule resolution for identifying and localizing proteins that is scalable to all proteins in biological systems. I am doing this by harnessing the potential of yeast surface display--a technique that utilizes S. cerevisiae for engineering, evolving and isolating NAABs with optimized phenotypes, such as higher binding affinity or stability—to generate a toolbox for distinguishing amino acids in order to sequence proteins.

I hope to dedicate my career to understanding and addressing the underlying mechanisms of brain function—not only to improve therapeutic outcomes for diseases such as glioblastoma, but also to illuminate the human condition. My current project on developing novel technologies for single-molecule protein sequencing has impelled me to view the larger picture—advancing our ability to probe the human mind rather than searching blindly for a solution within the confines of our primitive toolbox. Paradoxically, this research project has propelled me toward my future goals by encouraging me to first take a step back. My previous experience conducting translational research, along with coursework in cellular biology and neuroscience, has prepared me for technical lab skills such as molecular cloning and neurophysiological methods as they apply to clinical therapeutics. However, my endeavor into neurotechnological research has allowed me to explore the engineering-based aspect of neurobiology to promote a deeper perception of brain function.