Genome & Protein Engineering

Ana Lyons is a rising 5th year Ph.D. Candidate at UC Berkeley in the Department of Integrative Biology, with a designated emphasis in Computational Biology. As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Program Fellow, Ana studies how microscopic animals known as tardigrades (or "water bears") survive freezing temperatures—using methods from comparative physiology, protein biochemistry, microscopy, and molecular biology. As part of her graduate training, she participated in an NSF funded research expedition in McMurdo Station, Antarctica where she met many friendly penguins and Antarctic tardigrades. Ana received her double major Bachelor of Science Degree from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in 2012, and a Master's of Arts in Teaching Degree from Relay Graduate School of Education in 2015. Before starting her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, she spent a year conducting molecular biology research in Stuttgart, Germany, and she then spent 2 years teaching 7th-grade science in the Bronx, NYC. Ana is involved in extensive scientific outreach through mentoring research trainees, science writing, participating in K12 outreach, and working to make STEM fields more equitable on and off-campus. She has taught various science outreach programs at MIT (Cambridge, MA) and abroad (South Korea, China).