Professional summary
Biotechnologist with 4+ years developing gene-therapy vectors and CAR-T manufacturing processes in BSL2+ research environments — newly equipped with a Professional Master's in Biotechnology pairing bench expertise with regulatory, operations, and project-management training. Skilled at translating complex technical concepts for cross-functional teams and building robust, reproducible workflows ready to scale into clinical and industry settings.
Experience
Research Associate & Lab Manager
Huntsman Cancer Institute — Michael Pulsipher Lab · Salt Lake City, UT · May 2022 – Present
- Designed and produced lentiviral vectors for CAR-T cell engineering, optimizing titer and transduction efficiency for consistent manufacturing outcomes; executed at scale for dozens of constructs through pre-clinical mouse-model testing.
- Authored and validated SOPs for all CAR-T production and analysis workflows in compliance with BSL2+ EHS requirements; managed IBC & IACUC protocols and daily laboratory operations.
- Built and self-host a custom open-source lab-operations platform (live demo at demo.pulsipherlab.org).
- Established flow cytometry panels and gating strategies to characterize transduced T-cell products and enable QC assessments.
Laboratory Technician
IBC Advanced Technologies · American Fork, UT · Aug 2016 – 2022
- Conducted R&D, QC testing, and record-keeping for MRT chromatography products in a commercial research lab.
- Primary manager of analysis, training, maintenance, and repair for ICP-OES, ICP-MS, and AA instruments.
- Safely handled hazardous materials at bench and large-batch process scale; assisted with pilot-plant setup.
Student Research Assistant
Utah Valley University · Orem, UT · Mar 2018 – 2022
- Investigated cAMP's role in Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence via the related M. smegmatis strain; designed PCR primers and cloned genes into E. coli and M. smegmatis.
- Used ELISA and DNA-analysis techniques to gather publishable data; presented at ASM branch meetings (2018, 2019, 2021).
Education
Professional Master of Science & Technology, Biotechnology
University of Utah · Salt Lake City, UT · Conferred May 2026
Capstone professional project — applied bioprocess research under faculty mentorship (manuscript in preparation). Coursework spanned Regulatory Affairs, Operations & Project Management, Applied Statistics, Bioanalytical Chemistry, Business Development, Cell Structure & Function, Molecular Biology, Clinical & Molecular Cancer Biology, and Profiles of Leadership. Read the capstone report (PDF).
Bachelor of Science, Biotechnology
Utah Valley University · Orem, UT · 2022
Skills & competencies
- Cell & gene therapy: Lentiviral vector design & production, transfection, transduction, CAR-T workflows, human cell culture, electroporation, pre-clinical in-vivo mouse-model design and execution.
- Molecular biology: Cloning, PCR primer design, gel isolation, nucleic-acid analysis, genome annotation (BLAST, NCBI, SnapGene).
- Analytical: Flow cytometry (panels, gating, sorting); ICP-OES, ICP-MS, and AA spectroscopy — analysis, maintenance, repair.
- Lab operations: BSL2+ lab management, SOP authorship, IBC & IACUC protocols, hazardous-material handling, regulatory affairs; a self-hosted Linux server for laboratory operations.
- PSM toolkit: Project planning, applied statistics (R), bioprocess scale-up, cross-functional communication, technical leadership, presentation and teaching.
Honors & publications
- Eagle Scout · 3rd Place, Engineering — CUSF 2016 · ASM Branch Meeting presenter (2018, 2019, 2021).
- Utzman, P. H., Henderson, T., Elshafae, S., Deimundo Roura, C., & Pulsipher, M. (2025). A Generalizable Design and Cloning Strategy for CAR Lentiviral Plasmids. protocols.io. doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.yxmvm984bl3p/v1
References
Available on request.