Rebecca Panwala

MD/PhD Student, Sontheimer & Xue Lab

Rebecca graduated from UC San Diego in 2020 with a degree in Bioengineering: Biotechnology. During her undergraduate years, she was a part of the Mali Lab, where she worked on projects using high-throughput screening to explore cancer biology and therapeutic development.

In 2021, Rebecca joined the MD/PhD program at UMass Medical School, completing her first rotation in the Sontheimer Lab before beginning medical school. She is currently co-advised by Dr. Sontheimer and Dr. Xue, where her research focuses on leveraging high-throughput screening and the prime editing system to investigate cancer driver mutations. Additionally, she is working on optimizing parameters for circular petRNAs to enhance prime editing efficiency. Outside of the lab, Rebecca enjoys running, swimming, and spending time with her husband and three cats.