Theodore Nelson (RCSS Intern-Scholar, RCSS Treasurer) graduated from Columbia University in 2024 with a computer science major and biology concentration.
Joining the RCSS in 2022, he designed an introductory wet-lab biology research course for high school students, based on his own work in long-read sequencing analysis. The lab teaches long-read, short-read and Sanger sequencing technologies, with students verifying novel alternative splice variant predictions within the human transcriptome.
Alongside Dennis Zhang (CC ’24), he taught this program during the 2022-2023 academic year at the Columbia University Roger Lehecka Double Discovery Center, providing the first post-pandemic in-person STEM programming at the center. He advised new scholars throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, to refine the curriculum, to develop independent administrative structures, and to continue providing underserved students their first opportunity to perform research.
The program has been highly rated by students and has received funding from the Columbia University Department of Biomedical Engineering, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Stephens Family Charitable Foundation.
He concurrently served as the RCSS treasurer for the 2023-2024 academic year.
He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Churchill Scholarship and the Charles M. Rolker Jr. Prize.
Related Publication(s)
Nelson, T.M.; Zhang, D.; Sorid, S.; Chang, T.; Bajaj, N.; Viola, J.; Heckelman, L.; Pollack, R. Abstract 2366 Glass Half Full or Empty: Illuminating the Human Transcriptome - Inspiring Underserved High School Students with an Experiential Biology Laboratory Research Experience. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2024, 300, 107113, doi:10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107113.
Nelson, T.M.; Glass Half Full or Empty: Illuminating the Human Transcriptome. RCSS Journal of Undergraduate Research, Vol. 5, Pg. 10, 2023, [link]
Nipa, T.; Nan, C.; Morales, H.; Boodhan, N.; Nipon, S.; Ayodele, H.; Genao, K.; Kone, R.; Miami, J.; Kim, P.; Safa, S.; Postler, T.S.; Zhang, D.J.; Nelson, T.M. Illuminating the Human Transcriptome: An Interactive Biology Lab Experience. Columbia University Roger Lehecka Double Discovery Center. 2022, [link]
Nelson, T.M.; Ghosh, S.; Postler, T.S. L-RAPiT: A Cloud-Based Computing Pipeline for the Analysis of Long-Read RNA Sequencing Data. IJMS 2022, 23, 15851, doi:10.3390/ijms232415851.
Other work(s)