User:R.vanostrand/sandbox

Robert Van Ostrand, born in Burlington, Iowa, is a Chemical Biologist living in Davis, California. Robert attended high school in Danville, Iowa, and joined the United States Marine Corps in 2005. Robert joined the United States Marine Corps as an active duty infantryman and served as an 0311 rifleman for 4 years. Robert was deployed to Iraq in 2007, and subsequently served as lead turret gunner for his convoy while patrolling in the Al Anbar region of Iraq. Through service in the Marine Corps, Robert has traveled to Guam, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, The Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and more locations throughout the world. After his service as an infantryman, Robert transitioned to the Marine Corps Reserves and attended training as a Data Network Specialist in Twentynine Palms, CA. Scoring well in academic and physical fitness tests, Robert earned the title of Honor Graduate and graduated as the top student from the Marine Corps Communication-Electronics School in 2010. After graduating and transferring from Ventura Community College in Ventura, CA, Robert graduated with his Bachelor of Science from California State University Channel Islands (CI) with a degree in Chemistry: Biochemistry Option. While attending CI, Robert worked in Dr. Ahmed Awad’s chemistry research lab and investigated the synthesis and antibacterial properties of modified RNA monomers that could act as building blocks in an antisense RNA strand that is capable of gene silencing. Robert published his undergraduate research project in the journal Nucleosides, Nucleotides, & Nucleic Acids, which included the synthesis and antibacterial screening of over 15 nucleoside intermediates. {{cite journal|last1=Van Ostrand|first1=Robert|last2=Jacobsen|first2=Casey|last3=Delahunty|first3=Alicia|last4=Stringer|first4=Carley|last5=Noorbehesht|first5=Ryan|last6=Ahmed|first6=Haidi|last7=Awad|first7=Ahmed M.|title=Synthesis and antibacterial activity of 5′-tetrachlorophthalimido and 5′-azido 5′-deoxyribonucleosides|journal=Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids|date=3 January 2017|volume=36|issue=3|pages=181–197| Robert now conducts research in Sheila David’s research lab at UC Davis. Robert’s research involves the chemical synthesis of modified DNA that enables the exploration of the mechanism of DNA repair protein MutY/MUTYH. Robert has acted as Head Teaching Assistant of the pilot chemistry course Chemistry for Life Sciences at UC Davis for its first 3 quarters as a program.