Krish Choksi

(732) 822-2502 | krish.choksi@rutgers.edu | Houston, TX

EDUCATION
Rutgers University, School of Engineering – New Brunswick, New Jersey September 2019 – May 2023
Bachelor of Science – Biomedical Engineering, Summa Cum Laude (Highest Honors)

WORK EXPERIENCE
Takeda Pharmaceuticals – Cambridge, Massachusetts July 2023 – December 2023
Upstream R&D Co-op – Viral Vector
● Adapted an innovative ‘Extended Gene Expression’ process along with other optimizations from research papers to
. significantly increase titers for current platform process and led a DLS training for my team that I learnt for this study
● Implemented media modifications to eliminate the use of bovine serum in existing viral vector production processes
● Developed the 1st high-productivity suspension platform for gRV vectors using AMBR systems to improve viral titers
● Supported cell therapy program studies and platform development of adherent + suspension cultures by performing
a single/triple transfection, infectious titer assays, cell passages, flow cytometry verifications and bioreactor runs
MTF Biologics – Edison, New Jersey January 2023 – June 2023
R&D Co-op – Orthopedics
● Worked with the world’s largest tissue bank to design a novel platform technology for orthopedic applications
● Led design of experiment (DOE) activities to assess the impact of process changes on downstream tissue efficacy
● Conducted weekly aseptic processing of 5 bone allograft types to compare our novel technology
● Tested the quality of allografts through assays like cell viability, protein extraction & quantification, ELISAs
● Spearheaded a data analysis project to utilize excess tissue discards worth $700,000/yr

Pfizer – St. Louis, Missouri June 2022 – September 2022

Pharmaceutical R&D Intern – Vaccines/Particles
● Created a novel platform to understand antigen-adjuvant interactions in vaccines using imaging flow cytometry
● Demonstrated key concepts like preferential binding and aggregate characterization using IDEAs flow cytometry
● Conducted optimizations studies on instrument settings, bead gating, dye concentrations, incubation times, etc
● Assisted in a secondary troubleshooting project on spin lyophilization, the only prototype in the world
Publication: "Using Imaging Flow Cytometry to Understand Antigen & Adjuvant Interaction" (2022)
Royal Dutch Shell – Bangalore, India June 2018 – August 2018
Process Safety Intern
● Analyzed potential risks within and around industrial plants using risk assessment matrix to attain Shell’s ‘Goal Zero’
● Responsible for performing Reactive Hazard Analysis (RHA) and R&D calculations for a potential new plant in Japan

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
University of Houston – Houston, Texas December 2023 – Present
Research Assistant in Pharmaceutical Science
● Assisting the development of molecularly targeted drug delivery systems using nanoparticles for oncology therapies
● Performing nanoparticle characterizations, LNP formulations, in vivo studies using mice, tumor models, etc
Rutgers University – New Brunswick, New Jersey September 2021 – May 2023
Research Assistant in Microfluidics & BioMEMS – Zahn lab
● Created a brain-on-chip platform to characterize neural signals of patients with autism using cerebral organoids
● Responsible for microfabricating a 60 electrode device on a 2”x2” glass slide and quality testing of each electrode
● Conducted a 7-parameter optimization study to improve electrode conductivity for better signal/noise ratio with cells
Senior Design – Cai Lab
● Designed a computational pipeline to filter through data sets of 400 million nucleotides to identify functional genes
● Utilized a series of R packages for single-cell genomic analysis to understand the genes present in spinal cord injuries

LABORATORY EXPERIENCE
Flow Cytometry UV-Vis (SoloVPE) Cell Viability Assay
Fluorescence Microscopy GraphPad Prism JMP (statistical software)
Protein Extraction+Quantification Aseptic Technique Zeta Potential (Zetasizer)
Cell culture (adherent+suspension) Transient Transfection Cell Banking
qPCR + Gel Electrophoresis AMBR systems Sandwich ELISA