Alexa Michel is a fourth-year undergraduate student at City University of New York, Hunter College. She is a recipient of the John P. McNulty research scholarship, majoring in Human Biology with a minor in music. During the 2020 summer, Alexa conducted remote research as part of Columbia University’s SPURS Program in the Liu Lab, and presented a literature review on the Development and Applications of DNA Methylation Editing Tools in Diseases.

Alexa is currently working in Dr. Thomas Reiner’s lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, conducting translational research on the development and use of imaging tracers, like PARPi-FL, to better characterize tumors in brain and oral cancers through noninvasive imaging. She is also interested in the use of the CRISPR Cas9 gene editing system to optimize chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, as well as its applications in the treatment of neurological disorders. Alexa is a second-year mentor to freshman and sophomore pre-Health students through the Pre-Health Mentoring Initiative at Hunter. She is also an active member of the Hunter College Senate, serving on several committees with other students and faculty, a writer for the pre-Health Diaries Club, a member of Music is Medicine at Hunter, volunteers with the elderly at an assisted living center, and loves to sing and play the piano. Upon completing her undergraduate studies, she hopes to further conduct and contribute to research by pursuing a career in medicine.