Lauren Fajardo

Lauren received her Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2023. For her undergraduate thesis, she tested chloroplast and nuclear DNA barcodes for the identification of Philippine medicinal plants. She then worked as a research assistant in various organizations in the Philippines, first at the Virology and Vaccine Research Program at the Industrial Technology Development Institute for in silico vaccine design against swine viruses, and then in the Integrated Diagnostics Solutions program at Ateneo de Manila University developing LAMP, aptamer, and nanobody diagnostic assays for cancer. She is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Iowa State University and is working on her thesis on bamboo comparative genomics in Dr. Lynn Clark's lab, co-advised by Dr. Matt Hufford.