Graduate Student


Research Emphasis

Research involves the reconstruction and analysis of eukaryotic metabolic networks.


Biography

Natalie is a fifth year graduate student in Bioengineering. Her research involves the reconstruction and analysis of eukaryotic metabolic networks. Natalie's genome-scale metabolic reconstruction of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be found here. Currently, Natalie is overseeing the group's human reconstruction effort.

Education

Ph.D. in Bioengineering, November 2006

M.S. in Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, April 2003

B.S. in Biomedical Engineering (Summa Cum Laude), Boston University, May 2000

Work Experience

Bioinformatics Research Specialist (2001-2002)

Egea Biosciences, Inc., San Diego, CA

Supervisor: Dr. Glen Evans

  • Developed proprietary software package used for gene design Constructed a database and web-based interface used for tracking the progress of laboratory projects

Research Experience

Graduate Research Rotation (Winter 2002)

Alliance for Cell Signaling, University of California, San Diego

Advisors: Dr. Shankar Subramaniam, Mr. Brian Saunders

Undergraduate Research Thesis (1999-2000)

Biomolecular Systems Laboratory, Boston Unviersity

Advisors: Dr. Charles De Lisi, Dr. Carlos Hirschberg

Honors and Activities

Member of Alpha Eta Mu Beta Biomedical Engineering Honor Society

Member of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society

Boston University Merit Scholarship (1996-2000)

Engineering Student Leadership Award (1999, 2000)

Student Travel Award Recipient, Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting (2004)Student Travel Award Recipient, Biomedical Engineering Society Fall Meeting (2003)

Teaching Experience

Instructor, Systems Biology Short Course (August 2004, July 2005)

Teaching Assistant, Systems Biology I (Fall 2003)

Teaching Assistant, Biomaterials (Fall 2001)

Grader for Thermodynamics

Publications

Articles

Hurlen, N.C., "Genome-scale Reconstruction of Eukaryotic Metabolic Networks," Ph.D. Dissertation (2006). Available online here.

Duarte, N.C., Becker, S.A., Jamshidi, N., Thiele, I., Mo, M.L., Vo, T.D., Srivas, R., and Palsson, B.O. "Global Reconstruction of the Human Metabolic Network based on Genomic and Bibliomic Data," submitted (2006).

Duarte, N.C., Herrgard, M.J., and Palsson, B.O., "Characterization and Validation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae iND750: A Fully Compartmentalized Genome-Scale Metabolic Model," Genome Res 14:1298-309 (2004).

Duarte, N.C., Palsson, B.O., and Fu, P.,"Integrated Analysis of Metabolic Phenotypes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae," BMC Genomics5:63 (2004).

Posters

Homo sapiens Recon 1: A Genome-scale Reconstruction of Human Cellular Metabolism"

UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering Research Expo, San Diego, CA, February 2006

Natalie Duarte*, Scott Becker, Neema Jamshidi, Ines Thiele*, Monica Mo, Thuy Vo, Rohith Srivas, Bernhard Palsson

"Homo sapiens Recon 1: A Genome-scale Reconstruction of Human Cellular Metabolism"

Genetic Analysis: Model Organisms to Human Biology, Genetics Society of America Meeting, San Diego, CA, January 2006

Natalie Duarte*, Scott Becker, Neema Jamshidi, Ines Thiele, Monica Mo, Thuy Vo, Rohith Srivas, Bernhard Palsson

"Homo sapiens Recon 1: A Genome-scale Reconstruction of Human Cellular Metabolism"

Systems to Synthesis Symposium, San Diego Consortium for Systems Biology, San Diego, CA, January 2006

Natalie Duarte*, Scott Becker, Neema Jamshidi, Ines Thiele, Monica Mo, Thuy Vo, Rohith Srivas, Bernhard Palsson

"Homo sapiens Recon 1: A Genome-scale Reconstruction of Human Cellular Metabolism"

RECOMB Satellite Workshop on Systems Biology, San Diego, CA, December 2005

Natalie Duarte, Scott Becker, Neema Jamshidi, Ines Thiele, Monica Mo*, Thuy Vo, Rohith Srvivas, Bernhard Palsson

"Reconstruction and Validation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae iND750"

2004 Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting, Seattle, WA, July 2004

Natalie Duarte*, Markus Herrgard, Bernhard Palsson

"Saccharomyces cerevisiae iND750: A Fully Compartmentalized Genome-Scale Metabolic Model"

18th Annual Bioengineering Research Symposium, San Diego, CA, March 2004

Natalie Duarte*, Markus Herrgard, Bernhard Palsson

"Saccharomyces cerevisiae iND750: A Fully Compartmentalized Genome-Scale Metabolic Model"

4th International Conference on Systems Biology, St. Louis, MO, November 2003

Natalie Duarte*, Markus Herrgard, Bernhard Palsson

*Speaker at the conference

Presentations

"Genome-scale Reconstruction of Saccharomyces cerevisiae"

Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting, Seattle, WA, July 2004

"Genome-scale Reconstruction of Saccharomyces cerevisiae"

2004 UC Systemwide Bioengineering Symposium, Irvine, CA, June 2004

"Overview of the Systems Biology Research Group"

17th Annual Bioengineering Research Symposium, San Diego, CA, March 2003

Contact Information

Email Address: nchurlen@ucsd.edu

Phone: (858) 822-1168

Mailing Address: 9500 Gilman Drive Mail Code 0412 La Jolla, CA 92093-0412