Elise Schaefer, BS

PIBBS PhD rotation student

My name is Elise, and I am a first year PIBBS student. I've lived in Southern California my whole life, and after spending the past two years living and working in San Diego, I'm so happy to be back in LA. Six years ago, I graduated with a degree in bioengineering from the University of California Riverside, and life has been a rollercoaster since. After my undergraduate experience, I had no plans to earn a PhD, and my first job wasn't even in a STEM field. COVID changed my perspective. I began working in a COVID testing lab, eventually joining the next-generation sequencing lab to track variants. That experience led to my job at a start-up biotech company in San Diego. I was on the Research team, and we were developing a test for early cancer detection. These experiences reignited my love of science, and I'm so happy to begin my journey of earning my PhD here at USC. I love LA, and I'm looking forward to the next few years of living and learning in this beautiful city!

Research interests: Cancer biology, tumorigenesis, multi-omics, drug discovery and translation

Favorite food: Dumplings, gyros, almond croissants

Beverage of choice and protocol for preparation: Currently a homemade brown sugar shaken espresso with pumpkin cold foam. Equal parts brown sugar and instant espresso, fill the cup halfway with water and froth to mix. Add ice and top with milk. For the cold foam, 3 parts heavy whipping cream, 1 part milk, and pumpkin syrup. Froth and add to the top!

Favorite lab technique: Sequencing, especially 3rd-gen techniques, and subcellular imaging methods

Hobbies: Reading, writing, going to games, movies and musicals, hiking