Caryn McCowan

Caryn McCowan has a diverse work experience, beginning in 2009 as an Undergraduate Researcher at the Garb Lab at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. There, they conducted an independent research project to investigate the evolutionary history of venom proteins expressed in black widow spider venom. This research resulted in a written honors thesis and made a major contribution to a peer-reviewed publication in Gene.

From 2011 to 2018, McCowan worked at the Broad Institute, where they held three roles. As a Process Development Associate III, they incorporated the Pacific Biosciences NGS sequencing technology into a core lab. As a Process Development Associate II, they supervised the incorporation of the Pacific Biosciences NGS sequencing technology into a core lab, and prepared a variety of specialized Illumina NGS libraries for internal and external collaborators. As a Process Development Associate I, they were responsible for sample intake and QC, PacBio library sample prep, operation of the Pacific Biosciences RSii sequencer, and troubleshooting of failed sequencing runs.

From 2018 to 2021, McCowan worked at Cellarity as an Associate Software Engineer and Senior Research Associate in the NGS Technology Group.

Currently, McCowan is a Scientist II in Genotyping Operations at Embark Veterinary.

Caryn McCowan attended Triton Regional High School from 2004 to 2007, graduating with a High School degree. Caryn then attended the University of Massachusetts Lowell from 2007 to 2011, earning a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Biological Sciences. From 2013 to 2018, Caryn took coursework in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical Product Development at the Harvard Extension School.