Carmen joined Octant in the 2023 class of Octant Apprentices. She is currently working with the Deep Mutational Scanning team to drive deeper understandings of how sequence-function relationships can give greater insights into disease and be further applied towards our drug discovery platform.

Prior to arriving at Octant, Carmen obtained her BS in Biochemistry at the University of Oregon (along with a minor in Theater Arts and Production!). During her undergraduate career, Carmen spent three years in the Plesa Lab at the Knight Campus for Advancing Scientific Impact developing a system to perform Broad Mutational Scans using a massive and diverse library of genes to observe antibiotic resistance in Dihydrofolate Reductase homologs and mutants. In addition to her work in the lab, she also led the inaugural iGEM team at the university to present in the Grand Jamboree in Paris on their work developing a genetic-circuit-fueled, field-side concussion diagnostic tool.

Outside of her research, Carmen plays Ultimate Frisbee with a mixed team in the bay, climbs, hikes, runs, plays piano, and enjoys spending any free time with her cat, Juniper.