CV
Work and Volunteer Experience
University of california San Francisco: PhD Candidate
San Francisco, California August 2016 – Present
Developed automated microscopy assays using Pycromanager (See a tutorial here!) to probe the spatial and temporal regulation of actin polymerization in migrating cells using light-gated protein-protein interactions
Worked extensively in microscopy image analysis, contributing significant analysis to several published papers from the Weiner lab (See publications here)
Software Side Projects: Implemented a lab-wide modular cloning system and wrote software (including a webapp) to facilitate use of the system. Created a custom automated calendar management system to email reminders to microscope users to confirm or remove their pre-scheduled time on the lab microscope.
Mentorship & Teaching: Mentored 5 rotation students during my time in the Weiner Lab; Led modules of intensive two-week summer research workshops at San Francisco State University, advising groups of undergraduate and masters students on independent projects (2019 and 2020); Mentored two high school students in image analysis and automated microscopy (Summer 2019); Organized and led a statistics “bootcamp” covering prerequisite concepts for Statistical Methods for Bioinformatics (Winter 2017); Taught outreach lessons at John Yehall Chin Elementary school for the Science and Health Education Partnership program (Spring 2017)
University of Arizona Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology: Research Technician
Tucson, Arizona August 2014 – July 2016
Studied role of chronic arsenic exposure in development of malignant characteristics in a bronchial epithelial cell culture model
Developed python scripts to automatically update toxicity data summary reports when new assay files were added to a file system
Trained undergraduates in lab techniques
Town of buckeye: Recreation specialist
Buckeye, Arizona November 2013 – May 2013
Prepared and led before and after school enrichment activities for elementary students and supervised recreation aides
Ensured compliance with state childcare licensing regulations
united States Peace Corps: Education Volunteer
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso June 2011 – August 2013
Taught sixth and seventh grade mathematics
Facilitated sessions on reproductive health and malaria prevention
Organized extracurricular science activities and study skill workshops
Trained other teachers and staff on computer skills
University of arizona department of neuroscience: Lab assistant
Tucson, Arizona September 2009 – May 2011
Performed Drosophila brain and eye dissections and immunofluorescence staining
Interpreted research findings and summarized data into reports and presentations
EDUCATION
University of California San Francisco – San Francisco, 2016-Present
Advisor: Orion Weiner
Current PhD Candidate (GPA: 4.0)
University of ARIZONA – Tucson, Arizona, 2007-2011
Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences: Physiology, 2011 (Honors Program)
Bachelor of Science: Mathematics, 2011 (GPA: 3.626)
TRAINING AND ACHIEVEMENTS
University of California San Francisco – San Francisco, CA, 2016-Present
Gordon Research Seminar Speaker (2022)
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2018-2021)
Gordon Research Conference Poster Presenter (2018)
U.s. peace corps pre-service training – SaponÉ, Burkina Faso, 2011
250 hours of technical training pertaining to education and youth development
120 hours of instruction in French and local languages
30 hours of instruction in cross-cultural awareness
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA – TUCSON, AZ, 2007-2011
Honor’s Thesis: “A Screen for Defects in Axon-Glial Cell Interactions in the Drosophila Visual System” (2011)
Participant in Undergraduate Biology Research Conference (2011)
Participant in Arizona Imaging and Microanalysis Society Student Poster Contest (2011)
Dean’s List (7 of 8 Semesters)
Publications
Town, Jason, and Orion Weiner. 2023. Rac Negative Feedback Links Local PIP3 Rate-of-Change to Dynamic Control of Neutrophil Guidance. bioRxiv 2022.12.30.521706; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.12.30.521706.
Derek M Britain, Jason P Town, Orion D Weiner. 2022. Progressive enhancement of kinetic proofreading in T cell antigen discrimination from receptor activation to DAG generation eLife 11:e75263 https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.75263
De Belly, H., Yan S, et al. 2022. Actin-driven protrusions generate rapid long-range membrane tension propagation in cells. bioRxiv 2022.09.07.507005; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.07.507005
Saha, S., Town, Jason P. & Weiner, Orion D. mTORC2 coordinates the leading and trailing edge cytoskeletal programs during neutrophil migration. bioRxiv 2022.03.25.484773 (2022). doi:10.1101/2022.03.25.484773
Pipathsouk, A. Brunetti, R., Town, Jason P., et al. The wave complex associates with sites of saddle membrane curvature. J. Cell Biol. 220, (2021).
Fonseca, J. P. et al. A Toolkit for Rapid Modular Construction of Biological Circuits in Mammalian Cells. ACS Synth. Biol. 8, 2593–2606 (2019).
Graziano, B. R., Town, Jason P., et al. Cell confinement reveals a branched-actin independent circuit for neutrophil polarity. PLoS Biol. 17, (2019).
Mavor, D. et al. Extending chemical perturbations of the ubiquitin fitness landscape in a classroom setting reveals new constraints on sequence tolerance. Biol. Open 7, (2018).