Isabella Ferranti

I am a PhD student advised by Prof. Taylor at Carnegie Mellon University in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Prior to entering the PhD program at CMU, I worked as a research assistant for MD Anderson Cancer Research Center, investigating DNA repair by homologous recombination. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in Physics from Southwestern University in 2017. During my undergraduate career, I led multiple interdisciplinary projects focused in engineering and design and worked as an undergraduate research fellow at The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, CO.

Current Projects

My current research focuses on the cell-interfacing efforts of our DNA origami nanostructures and nanobiosensors

Previous Projects

  • Defective Crossover Homeostasis Compromises Chromosome Segregation in Aged Mouse Spermatocytes: While it has been well-documented that maternal aging results in an increased rate of chromosome mis-segregation during meiosis, paternal age-related alterations are lesser known. I contributed to MD Anderson Cole Lab's research in the overall effect on homologous recombination associated with paternal aging. I utilized cytological assays to monitor recombination in aged mouse spermatocytes.
  • Tobacco Exposure and its Influence on Meiotic Recombination: I worked with the Cole Lab to identify the effect of tobacco exposure on male mouse meiosis, using cytological assays to analyze homologous recombination.
  • Spatial Metrology Measurements For Antenna Characterization: While working within NIST's Radio-Frequency Fields Group, I contributed intercomparison measurements for characterizing the performance of the Pixel Probe (a touchless laser tracker probe used in near-field scanning techniques for high frequency antennas).
  • Laser Frequency Combs for Finding Exoplanets: While working within NIST's Optical Frequency Measurements Group, I constructed a frequency measurement system for characterizing the stability of continuous-wave (CW) lasers. I utilized the heterodyne method, which involves intermixing an uncharacterized CW laser with a characterized modelocked frequency comb to produce a beat frequency equal to the frequency difference of the two sources. I then wrote a Python script to perform time-domain analysis on the recorded beat frequencies and determine the overall frequency stability of the CW laser.
  • Simulated Synesthesia - Designed and programmed a hand-held Arduino-based module to “translate” visible color into music. After building and testing, I presented the module at the King Creativity Symposium and Creative Works Symposium at Southwestern University, where people could playfully engage with the technology and share their experiences with one another.
  • Developing an Autonomous Ground-Based Rover: With the HHMI-Southwestern Inquiry Initiative grant, my research team and I built an autonomous rover to be used on agricultural property. While I was involved in each aspect of the bot's construction, my main focus was programming a GPS system for autonomous navigation.

Certifications and Awards

  • University of Texas at Austin User Experience and User Interface Design Certification, 2020
  • University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Merit Award Recipient, 2018 and 2019
  • NIST-SURF Fellowship Recipient: 2016, 2017
  • HHMI-Southwestern Inquiry Initiative Scholar, 2015
  • Mood Scholar Award Recipient: 2013-2017
  • Orgain Memorial Scholarship Recipient: 2014-2017
  • Chance-Kreuger Family Endowed Scholarship: 2013-2016
  • King Creativity Grant Recipient: 2013-2016

Presentations

Posters Presentations
  • Ferranti I; Humphery E; Sandoval M; Baird J; Cole F. "Tobacco Exposure and its Influence on Meiotic Recombination", poster presented at 2019 Center for Cancer Epigenetics Retreat, Round Top Festival Institute, TX.
  • Ferranti I, Alexander S. "Simulated Synesthesia", poster presented at 2016 Research and Creative Works Symposium, Southwestern University, TX.
  • Ferranti I, Gandhi Y, Rodriguez E*, Alexander S. "Developing an Autonomous Ground-Based Rover", poster presented at 2015 Texas Academy of Science Conference, Texas Tech University Center at Junction, TX.
Oral Presentations
  • Ferranti I, Gordon J. "Spatial Metrology Measurements For Antenna Characterization", presented at 2017 National Institute of Standards and Technology SURF Colloquium, Boulder, CO.
  • Ferranti I, Diddams S. "Laser Frequency Combs for Finding Exoplanets", presented at 2017 Texas Academy of Science Conference, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, TX.
  • Ferranti I, Diddams S. "Laser Frequency Combs for Finding Exoplanets", presented at 2017 Research and Creative Works Symposium, Southwestern University, TX.
  • Ferranti I, Diddams S. "Laser Frequency Combs for Finding Exoplanets", presented at 2016 National Institute of Standards and Technology SURF Colloquium, Boulder, CO.

Contact Information

  • Please contact me by email: ibf@andrew.cmu.edu