Kurt Patterson

Background

About Kurt Patterson

My scientific career began at California State University San Marcos where I earned my Bachelors and Masters degrees in biology. As an undergrad and graduate student I worked in the Escobar lab studying the plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens and its phenomenal process of immune evasion by genetically modifying the host for overproduction of the plant hormone auxin. In 2007 I completed an internship training program sponsored by BIOCOM, after which I interned at a structural biology company, SGX Pharmaceuticals (now Eli Lilly), where I learned high-throughput molecular cloning and protein crystallization. These experiences inspired me to pursue a PhD with the goal of returning to industry as a scientist. After I obtained my Masters in 2011, I joined the graduate program in Biomedical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. In my PhD work I used a variety of molecular and genetic approaches to examine the uniquely specific process of target site selection by the yeast retrotransposon Ty3. Separately I collaborated with a fellow student to develop a DNA-cut-and-paste transposon system to perform functional profiling in the genome of the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. Using high-throughput sequencing we were able to profile essential and non-essential metabolic genes. In the course of this research I became proficient in basic lab techniques in addition to more difficult procedures such as producing custom DNA sequencing libraries. Although most of my training has been at the bench, I am also skilled in bioinformatics. I can program in Python, R and Linux to process large amounts of data related to high-throughput DNA sequencing analysis. I was awarded my Ph.D. in 2016. I am currently employed as a molecular biologist with the San Diego based start-up company Actavalon Inc. In this role I use several approaches to evaluate small molecule reactivation of the tumor suppressor protein p53.