Aliyah Helling

Background

About Aliyah Helling

I currently work as a Histocompatibility Technologist at OHSU Laboratory of Immunogenetics and Transplantation. I completed my generalist internship at Hillsboro Medical Center, graduated from OIT’s Medical Lab Science program, and passed the ASCP MLS certification exam. In October 2018, I relocated to Portland, OR, and I began working at MolecularMD/ICON as a Medical Technologist I. I performed high-complexity molecular testing to generate data on cancer treatment effectiveness for clinical trials. This experience included extracting nucleic acids from peripheral blood, bone marrow, FFPE tumor slides, saliva, and nasal swabs using manual and automated methods on ThermoFisher KingFisher Flex and the Promega Maxwell AS4500 instruments and performing real time PCR and ddPCR on extracted nucleic acids using Applied Biosystems 7500 Fast Dx and Bio-Rad QX200 Droplet Reader Instruments. Before, I was a Microbiologist at Coastal Cannalytics, a cannabis testing lab. In the role, I wrote SOPs and forms for safe laboratory practices and laboratory maintenance, sample preparation, autoclaving, incubating, DNA extraction, qPCR, and mycotoxin testing according to ISO 17025 and the regulations set by California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control. I also compiled a list of required materials and necessary equipment for testing cannabis for the presence of STEC, Salmonella, and several Aspergillus species. After graduation, I worked at ThermoFisher Scientific as a Manufacturing Technician. I worked with a team in a fast-paced environment to produce high quality custom oligonucleotides in a timely manner. I kept accurate documentation of the synthesis process, solved problems that occurred, maintained reagent stocks and inventory, performed routine maintenance on equipment, and provided feedback on how to improve the process and laboratory environment. At UCSC, I was an intern in Bill Sullivan's Wolbachia Lab, where my responsibilities were sorting D. melanogaster and D. simulans by gender and performed crosses, performing PCR and Gel Electrophoresis to confirm presence of Wolbachia, and counting progeny of various D. melanogaster and D. simulans crosses to access fecundity. After, I volunteered in Artur Schmidtchen's Lab in Lund, Sweden where I studied abroad. There, I prepared TH agar plates and cultured and plated strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, made conditioned medium for use in pyoverdine, pyocyanin, and azocasein assays, and tested the influence of external factors on bacterial luminescence and the relationship between luminescence and bacterial viability.