The SDMCC interviewed participants from the Fall 2023 cycle of the CIVICs Collaborative Training Program to learn about their experiences and their research projects. The Program provides funding for early-career researchers to collaborate and receive training from a hosting CIVICs institution in a technique that is new to their home laboratories. The Collaborative Training Program offers funding twice per year for projects that last up to two weeks. In the Fall 2023 cycle, five researchers from across CIVICs participated. We’re continuing this series with a profile of Sinai-Emory Multi-Institutional CIVIC (SEM CIVIC) member, Alba Escalera Merino, who recently earned her PhD from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai for her work in Dr. Adolfo García-Sastre’s laboratory.
Escalera Merino began her studies in Spain at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, where she earned her BS in Biotechnology. While pursuing her MS in Virology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Escalera Merino spent time in García-Sastre’s laboratory working on her master research thesis. She originally planned for this to be the end of her educational research career, but the time in the lab inspired her to work toward a PhD. She joined Dr. García-Sastre’s laboratory in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, so she decided to take full advantage of this unique opportunity to study SARS-CoV-2 in real time. “We had access to different viruses because COVID-19 patients were seeking care in New York,” so Escalera Merino used these viruses to characterize them in vitro and in vivo.” When the SARS-CoV-2 virus attempts to infect a cell, the spike protein binds to a receptor on the cell’s surface. Before the virus can enter the cell, the spike protein needs to be cleaved,
or cut, resulting in the virus’s entry to the cell. Studying spike protein cleavage of these SARS-CoV-2 variants brought her to her PhD work, analyzing the functional role of emerging S mutations in viral fitness, transmission, and antigenicity. Throughout her research she utilized different molecular techniques as well as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and microneutralization assays but wanted to broaden her knowledge on the Fc-effector functions of antibodies targeting the spike protein of different SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.
For the CIVICs Collaborative Training Program, Escalera Merino was hosted by Dr. Taia Wang at Stanford University. Escalera Merino sought out the program to be trained in effector function assays and was particularly interested in the Wang lab due to their expertise. The García-Sastre’s laboratory focuses on molecular virology and primarily utilizes ELISA and microneutralization assays. This was an opportunity to learn additional immunological techniques such as Fc-dependent immune-mediated cytokine production and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) assays. Through participation in the Wang lab meetings, Escalera Merino had the opportunity to see how other labs work and how other people think. She said she, “wants to recommend this to people because it has been an amazing experience just to learn different techniques, get to know other labs, and enjoy the experience.” This experience has given her an enriched understanding of science, an opportunity to network with others, and a space to grow as a researcher.