Karla Vela Lopez is a Master’s student in the Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnology program. Her interests focus on computational biology, software development, bioinformatics, genomics, and human disease.
During her Master’s program, she discovered an unexpected passion for computing, which sparked a new direction in her research. She now combines her biology and computational skills to develop methods that expand our understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying human disease, with the goal of developing more effective and efficient therapeutics.
She has also set a goal to build her software development skills. She hopes to bridge the gap between computational wet-lab research. By bringing computational methods into user-friendly interfaces accessible to all researchers, she hopes to help elevate the efficacy and productivity of scientific research more broadly.
Before joining the Pividori Lab, Karla worked in Dr. Janani Ravi’s lab, in collaboration with Dr. Arjun Krishnan’s lab, on a project integrating machine learning, publicly available data, graph-based methods, and protein-protein interaction networks to identify novel disease-associated genes for tuberculosis. This experience helped build a strong foundation for her research interests. She continually strives to improve her computational skills and scientific knowledge every day.
Outside the lab, Karla enjoys playing volleyball, soccer, and boxing. She’s also a car enthusiast, an anime lover, and most of all, treasures time spent with her family.