Adriana Meza

Conducted variant calling on pediatric melanoma RNA-seq samples and identified 10 clinically relevant variants, informing drug-matching decisions and trial eligibility evaluation.

Served 500+ customers daily, improved team efficiency during peak hours through proactive communication, and maintained sanitation, inventory, and workstation readiness.

Shadowed the head athletic trainer and supported care for 50+ athletes through concussion testing, vitals monitoring, and basic rehabilitation while providing bilingual (English/Spanish) patient education.

Developed MATLAB algorithms to simulate aircraft trajectories and design decentralized networked control systems, presenting functioning code to faculty panels and improving multi-agent coordination.

Assessed expression of NRAS A146T in the G-361 melanoma cell line using RNA-seq and public databases, confirming absence of the variant and concluding the cell line unsuitable for A146T studies.

Predicted and visualized the BCL11A–HDAC1 interaction using AlphaFold3 and ChimeraX, analyzing electrostatic and hydrophobic interfaces and evaluating sequence conservation for biological relevance.

Grade: 3.56 GPA

Activities and societies: Dean's Honors List (Winter 2024, Winter 2025); Undergraduate research at the Genomics Institute (Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative); Protein–Protein Interaction Modeling project; Variant calling and bioinformatics projects.

Bachelor of Science in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology with a 3.56 GPA; extensive laboratory and computational coursework including general and organic chemistry labs, molecular biology, microbiology, and computational genomics.

Grade: 3.67 UW

Activities and societies: Varsity softball (3 years), CIF Southern Section Scholar Athlete (2017–2019), Regional Champion (2019), one year as team manager, Student Volunteer in Athletic Training Program.

High School Diploma with a 3.67 UW GPA, involved in athletics and student volunteering including athletic training support.