Saakshi Kaushik

Saakshi Kaushik received her B.S. and M.S in Biotechnology from Mumbai University, India. She followed it up with a second M.S. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where she studied post-transcriptional RNA modifications using biochemical assays.

She then joined UT MD Anderson Cancer Center as a Research Assistant. One of her main projects was working on a preclinical research model using a small-molecular inhibitor of PRMT5 as a potential treatment of the leukemias harboring MLL-rearrangements. Some of the techniques used include Flow cytometry, Immunofluorescence and Viral transfections of cell lines.

Most recently, she worked at UW-Madison as a Research Specialist in the Department of Human Oncology. Here, she used patient-derived xenografts from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) brain metastasis to test radiation, chemotherapy and combination therapy to understand tumor response to treatment. She led the project to successfully develop both NSCLC brain metastasis PDX models and cell lines; which are the first in the field. She also used them to study preclinical therapies to test combinations of drug and radiation.

Saakshi is a trained dancer and loves to do yoga or be active outdoors when not at work. She is excited to be working at BlueNalu to develop cell-cultured seafood products that will help customers choose ocean sustainability without compromising on the quality or the taste of the product.