Nora is a UCLA undergraduate student from Issaquah, Washington, majoring in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics. They are currently minoring in Bioinformatics, and hope to also minor in Public Health. During a high school summer, Nora interned at Spero Technologies Inc., where Nora worked on developing a large cell-free metabolic engineering pathway for production of cannabidiol and designing a modified hollow fiber bioreactor, inoculating their interests in microbiology and molecular biology. Later, Nora worked on a full genome shotgun project for the malaria vector mosquito Anopheles stephensi under Phillips Exeter Academy science instructor, Dr. Shimaa Ghazal. This experience introduced Nora to the field of bioinformatics and the challenges of providing effective infectious disease response. Nora hopes the full availability of the A. stephensi genome will result in improved public health response and clinical treatment of malaria in endemic regions. Nora joins the HALab to continue working to advance these goals through developing a greater understanding of malaria vaccine immunology. Outside of the lab, Nora enjoys performing and producing theatre and film with Lapu the Coyote that Cares Theatre Company. Nora also enjoys board games, singing, and volunteering to provide interactive K-12 science education. Nora is also a certified nurse assistant in the states of California and Washington.

Contact: noralusharma@ucla.edu