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Oleksandra (Lesia) Romanyshyn,

Ph.D. Candidate

Ph.D. Student, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University

Research Assistant at Gábor Balázsi's Laboratory 

http://openwetware.org/wiki/Balazsi_Lab

Evolution of Multicellular Drug Resistance. Cancer, microbial and protozoan infection therapies are challenged by the increasing resistance of the pathogens to the common drugs. Drug resistance, just as any physiological cellular stress response, evolves rapidly along with the changing host environment. One of the microbial cell traits underlying drug resistance is forming multicellular clusters, e.g. biofilms, flocs, and clumps. Our project focuses on revealing the genetic mechanisms controlling multicellular phenotypes in yeast and their impact on the emergence of drug resistance. I am interested in utilizing synthetic gene circuits to externally control the mitotic exit network.

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Synthetic Regulation of Tau/Amyloid Beta Interactions. Alzheimer's disease causal treatments have traditionally targeted a single protein target. The disease, however, still progresses due to multiple interactions of the pathological proteins with other molecules within the neural cell. In this project, we design the synthetic regulation of Tau- and amyloid beta-encoding genes in yeast cellular model to reveal the potential dose-dependent interaction between their protein products. Refer to more information to the leader of this project - Thomas Malachowski.

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Yeast Parkinson's Disease Model for Biotechnological Purposes. My undergraduate research focused on designing and describing a yeast model of production, metabolism, and degradation of human alpha-synuclein - a hallmark of Parkinson's disease. Specifically, the preferred intracellular tagging, pool control, and the debate of degradation via autophagal versus proteasomal system were addressed. The work laid foundation for a new branch in lab research dedicated to exploring oxidative stress responses upon heterologous aggregation-prone protein production in yeast.

2012-2016 - B.S. in Biochemistry, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine
2017-current - M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, NY, USA
2017-current - Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, NY, USA

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Find my full CV here:

Education

2012-2016 - B.S. in Biochemistry, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine
2017-2019 - M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, NY, USA
2017-current - Ph.D. in Biomedical EngineeringStony Brook University, NY, USA

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Find my full CV here:    .

Research

2013-2017 - Undergraduate & Graduate Research Fellow at Dr. Olena Stasyk Laboratory, Department of Cell Signaling, Institute of Cell Biology, National Academy of Science of Ukraine

2017 - Rotation Student at Dr. Gábor Balázsi Laboratory for Synthetic Evolutionary Dynamics, Stony Brook University, NY, USA

2018 - Rotation Student at Dr. Eric Brouzes Laboratory for Microfluidics and Quantitative Genomics, Stony Brook University, NY, USA

2018-current - Ph.D. Candidate at Dr. Gábor Balázsi Laboratory for Synthetic Evolutionary Dynamics, Research Assistant at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, NY, USA

My latest research poster: 

Genetically encoded deficient mitotic cell separation leads to clumping

December 2018

Recent Findings 

Mitotic Exit Network contributes to the formation of clumpy phenotypes in yeast, a potential mechanism of the emergence of multicellular drug resistance. Future work will address the genetic regulation of clumping phenotype, as well as quantify its impact on multicellular drug resistance in yeast. Check out a recent poster for Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Academic Affiliation Workshop here:         .

Publications

December 2020 - ASCB | EMBO (American Society for Cell Biology | European Molecular Biology Organization) CellBio Virtual Meeting 2020, section Fungi. O. Romanyshyn, G. Balázsi. Quantitative characterization of drug resistance due to multicellularity.

March 2020 - American Physics Society (APS) Virtual March Meeting 2020, section DBIO 026. O. Romanyshyn, G. Balázsi. Multiscale Synthetic Control of Multicellularity and Drug Resistance.

August 2019 - Department of Biomedical Engineering Research Day. O. Romanyshyn, G. Balazsi. “Antagonism of Mitotic Exit Network Results in Drug-Resistant Phenotypes in Budding Yeast”.

April 2019 - Laufer Center, Stony Brook University – Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Academic Affiliation Workshop. O. Romanyshyn, M. Wu, G. Balázsi. “Synthetic control of mitotic exit for studying multicellular drug resistance in yeast”.

2016 - O.G. Stasyk, I.O. Denega, O.R. Romanyshyn, N.I. Klymyshyn, O.V. Stasyk. Influence of different concentrations of extracellular glucose on cytotoxicity of human a-synuclein in model strains of the yeast Hansenula polymorpha. Visnyk of the Lviv University. Series Biology. 2016. Issue 73. P. 85-95. ISSN 0206-5657.

2015 - N.O. Sybirna, I.O. Denega, O.R. Romanyshyn, O.G. Stasyk, O.V. Stasyk. Modeling the process of human alpha-synuclein degradation in the cells of the thermotolerant yeast Hansenula polymorpha. YEAST, 32. P. 188-189.

Teaching

  • 2020-current - Club Lab Rascals K-5 Virtual STEM Education Camp curriculum developer (USA). Camps supervised: Chemistry (2020, 2021), Engineering (2020), Human Biology (2020), Space Science (2020), Physics of Sound (2021).

  • 2019-current - WISE Guides Program Mentor, Stony Brook University, NY, USA (Mentee: BME Undergraduate Student Kaitlyn Swayze).

  • 2018-current - High School WISE Program Mentor, Stony Brook University, NY, USA (Mentees: Comsewogue High School Graduates 2019, Rocky Point High School Graduates 2020, Hauppauge High School Graduates 2021).

  • 2018 - Teaching Assistant, BME 304 (Genetic Engineering), Stony Brook University, NY, USA.

  • 2017 - Teaching Assistant, BME 100 (Introduction to Biomedical Engineering), Stony Brook University, NY, USA.

  • 2016-2017 - TOEFL/GRE Private Tutor, Lviv, Ukraine.

  • 2016 - Head of Students’ Scientific Society, Faculty of Biology, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine.

  • 2015-2016 - Intern Teacher at Lviv Academic Gymnasium of the National University "Lviv Polytechnic", Lviv, UkraineClasses taught: Biology, Ecology, Chemistry (6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th grades).

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2018-2019 HS WISE Class on a field trip to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. On this photo (left to right): Comsewogue High School mentor Nicholas Fischetti, 12th grade students Sarah Salob, Ankita Katukota, Nikita Katukota, Nikki Kesses, Tuveson Lab technician Mirna Kheir Gouda, Stony Brook HS WISE mentor Lesia Romanyshyn

The main objective of the High School WISE Program in Stony Brook University is to encourage young female high school students to pursue STEM education and deepen their interest in STEM fields. In the 10 two-hour sessions, my HS WISE group:

  • is introduced to the historical and achievement highlights of Stony Brook University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, and Balázsi Laboratory for Synthetic Evolutionary Dynamics

  • is familiarized with the main research topics and techniques in the lab, as well as participates in discussions of 'hot topics' in the field (synthetic biology, genetic engineering, cancer, and evolution)

  • joins a tour around one of the Cold Spring Harbor Labs

  • gains a career choice perspective from an invited talk by the graduate researcher from our lab

  • presents their own design/idea on the annual HS WISE Capstone Event (check out our 2019 HS WISE Poster here:      .)

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2019-2020 HS WISE Rocky Point Class performing experiments in Balázsi Lab. On this photo (left to right): Kaitlyn Sandusky, Fiona McEvoy, Joan Hicks, Chloe Fish, Caroline Maglione, Ashlynne Xavier, Lesia Romanyshyn (mentor), Rocky Point High School mentor-shaperone Melissa Domenchello, Sophia Cecere, Emma Rose Hansen.

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2020-2021 HS WISE Hauppauge Class performing virtual experiments (preparing agar plates with antibiotic selection marker for bacterial growth) in Balázsi Lab. On this photo (left to right, top to bottom): Lesia Romanyshyn (mentor), Briana Becker (teacher-chaperone), students Rachel Ma, Samyuktha Reddy, Chiara Henselder, Melody Zhu, Varsha Saravanan, holding ampicillin-agar plates they prepared during WISE session. 

Contact Me

...or stop by for a chat!

Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Rm 109F

Stony Brook, NY 11794-5252, USA

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