Graduate student, Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering
University of Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Rina Carrillo is currently a PhD student in the Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering (MBBE) program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of Hawaii in 2017. Rina worked as a student research intern for the INBRE program where she synthesized and tested a series of chalcone derivatives for antimicrobial activity. Rina also worked in the Hawaiian Rare Plant Program focusing on plant tissue culture and as a laboratory technician in the Hawaiian Plant DNA Library. Rina was accepted into the MBBE graduate program as a student of Dr. David Christopher. In her thesis work, Rina is characterizing the function of protein disulfide isomerase 9 (PDI9) in plants, that's involved in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathways, and serves a protective role against heat-induced pollen abnormalities in Arabidopsis.