Chemistry Career Day 2021

JPL is a research and development lab federally funded by NASA and managed by Caltech. We are humanity’s leading center for exploring where humans cannot yet reach. Our spacecraft have flown to every planet and the Sun in a quest to understand our place in the universe, and to search for the possibility of life beyond Earth.

Respresentative: Dr. Morgan Cable

Dr. Morgan Cable is the Ocean Worlds Program Scientist for the Planetary Mission Formulation Office, and the supervisor of the Astrobiology and Ocean Worlds Group at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. She worked on the Cassini Mission as a Project Science Systems Engineer, and is currently a Co-Investigator on the Dragonfly Mission to Saturn’s moon Titan and a Collaborator on the Europa Clipper Mission.

Morgan’s research focuses on organic and biomarker detection, through both in situ and remote sensing techniques. While earning her Ph.D. in Chemistry at Caltech, she designed receptor sites for the detection of bacterial spores, the toughest form of life. As a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow, Morgan developed novel protocols to analyze organic molecules such as amines and fatty acids using small, portable microfluidic sensors. Currently Dr. Cable performs laboratory experiments to study the unique organic chemistry of Titan, a moon of Saturn. She and colleagues were the first to discover cryogenic minerals in the laboratory, made exclusively of organic molecules, that may exist on Titan’s surface. Morgan also conducts field work in extreme environments on Earth, searching for life in places such as the Atacama Desert, the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro and the lava fields in Iceland.

BioLegend develops world-class, cutting-edge antibodies and reagents for biomedical research, manufactured in our state-of-the-art facility in San Diego, CA. Our mission is to accelerate research and discovery by providing the highest quality products at an outstanding value, along with superior customer service and technical support.

Representative: Cole Norton and Dr. Bo Gao

Cole Norton has been a Talent Acquisition Supervisor with BioLegend since 2019. I have over 10 years of corporate human resources and talent acquisition experience within industries that include Biotech/Life Sciences, Aerospace Engineering & Defense, and Construction Management. I received my Bachelor’s Degree from Cal State Fullerton in Marketing and received my M.B.A. from University of La Verne with a concentration in Management/Leadership. I am responsible for overseeing all of our recruitment efforts at BioLegend as we continue to excel our growth initiatives for 2021 & beyond.

Dr. Bo Gao has been a Scientist III with BioLegend since 2019. Dr. Gao oversees one of our Process Development Research teams that focuses on antibody conjugation and fluorescent dye chemistry. She received her PhD from University of Notre Dame in Chemistry. She has 15 plus years of academic & industry research experience and has worked in product development for the last 6 years. She has partnered in several publications on the topics of nanomaterials, chemistry, and fluorescence microscopy.

Pfizer’s worldwide medicinal chemistry core capabilities include small molecule design and associated functions including structural biology and computational chemistry, synthetic innovation and compound safety prediction. Their partnering strategy is designed to maintain and enhance these areas as well as generate new synergistic capabilities.

Representatives: Matthew Del Bel

Matt was raised in the San Francisco bay area and came to San Diego in 2007 to study biochemistry at UCSD. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree, Matt continued his studies at UCSD to earn a PhD in organic chemistry. He is currently a medicinal chemist at Pfizer La Jolla and works on discovering new cancer therapies. He enjoys spending his free time outdoors and can usually be found rock climbing, skiing, or hiking.

BASF Corporation is the largest affiliate of BASF SE and the second largest producer and marketer of chemicals and related products in North America. The BASF Corporation combines economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. They produce a broad range of Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions.

Representative: Dr. Angelica Zabala Bautista

Dr. Angelica Zabala Bautista is a research scientist in BASF-Enzymes in San Diego. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering at UCSD and her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. Her graduate school work focused on uncovering biochemical metabolic pathways in fungi. She has been working in the industry for a few years now, starting at REG-Life Sciences in the Bay Area, where she worked on the discovery and optimization of pathways to diversify fatty-acid derived products in E. coli. Currently, she is co-leading a project in BASF focused on bioprospecting different enzymes in search for good industrial catalysts. She is also the co-chair of the San Diego chapter of Women in BASF.

General Atomics (GA) is a defense and diversified technologies company that operates in five continents. GA Aeronautical Systems produces a series of unmanned aircraft and provides electro-optical, radar, signals intelligence, and automated airborne surveillance systems. GA’s Electromagnetic Systems Division produces electro-magnetic aircraft launch and recovery systems for the US Navy, satellite surveillance, electro-magnetic rail gun, high power laser, hypervelocity projectile, and power conversion systems. GA developed the UCSD Supercomputer Center and has constructed more than 60 TRIGA nuclear research reactors in 24 countries.

Representatives: Grayson Lovelace