Alejandro Morales

6919 North Sheridan Road · Chicago, IL 60626 · (832) 868-5807 · alejandro.morales04@gmail.com

I'm a Associate Scientist at Abbvie pharmaceutical in Lake Forest, IL. My current work specializes in conducting high throughput biochemical research using a combination of computational and wetlab methods. I'm studying programming by developing software applications utilizing a technology stack that combines Python and JavaScript through the use of Django as a web development framework. This webpage is designed primarily to showcase an overview of my professional work.

Software Knowledge
Software Projects
Layover Connections
Layover Connections - Creator

Designed to connect solo travelers during a layover. Users can build a profile, meet other users, schedule, & create events. This application is under construction and was built using a Django Backend Framework. Functionalily is planned to launch for O'Hare, and Midway airports.

Demo Application
Mock Stock Tracker
Ghost Buses - Contributor

A civic tech project that uses public data to assess discrepencies between scheduled vs actual service levels of CTA buses. Data is gathered from the CTA Bus Tracker API and CTA GTFS schedule dataset. It is evaluated to measure ghost buses or buses that never arrive.

Demo Application
Programming Tech Stack
Frontend Backend Systems + Utilities
Languages JavaScript Python Linux
Frameworks BootStrap Django BASH
Languages CSS-3 | HTML-5 C Git

Work Experience

View Resume

  • Associate Scientist
  • Small Molecule Discovery
  • Abbvie
  • Mar 2023 - Current
  • Address: 26525 Riverwoods Blvd, Mettawa, IL 60045
  • Phone Number: (800) 255-5162

My responsibilities at Abbvie have involved developing software in Python to model and perform various biochemical experiments. The scripts I've developed utilize data analysis libraries including Pandas, Numpy, MatplotLib and SciKit Learn. I have also worked alongside other software developers to create scripts that enabled the team to perform various machine learning analysis task. Another project I worked on automated the classification and evaluation of biochemical compound affinity analysis in terms of inhibition kinetic profiles.

    Job Responsibilities
  • Developed and debugged a Python script to clean, parse and plot imzML Spectrometry data in preparation for downstream machine learning analysis.
  • Created a Python script using Pandas and Matplotlib to automate compound enzyme inhibition affinity analysis. Visualized time series data to classify compound inhibition reversibility kinetics.
  • Conducted high throughput biochemical assays to evaluate compound inhibition activity of enzymes of interest.
  • Ran pH dependence analysis assays to optimize compound activity conditions.
  • Assisted the development of new gPCR high throughput assay to evaluate and study compound agonist and antagonist capability.

  • Research Technologist III
  • Neurobiology
  • Northwestern University
  • Apr 2021 - Jan 2023
  • Address: 420 E Superior St, Chicago, IL 60611
  • Phone Number: (312) 503-8194

My work involved researching the role of synucleopathies in relation to Parkinson's development. A major project I completed here involved developing custom Python image analysis software pipelines using SciKit Image, Cell Profiler, and Jupyter Notebooks to assist ongoing IF experiments. These pipelines were designed to perform computational evaluation and characterization of actin cytoskeleton and protein mutations epression profiles via confocal miscroscopy.

    Job Responsibilities
  • Cultured iPSC lines and generated cell stocks for use in downstream experiments.
  • Generated Neuronal and Astrocyte primary cell cultures by isolating cells from rat embryos.
  • Transfected and captured images of HeLa cells stained with Rho-Phalloidin using confocal microscopy to compare colocalization amongst various proteins of interest.
  • Developed an image analysis pipeline using Cell Profiler and ImageJ to quantify IF expression profiles of protein localization and actin cytoskeleton accumulation.

  • Research Assistant
  • Cancer Biology
  • Northshore University Healthsystem
  • Jun 2017 - Apr 2021
  • Address: 1001 University Place, Evanston, IL 60201
  • Phone Number: (224) 364-7300

I was a part of the Hayward Franco lab at Northshore. This lab was a part of the Urology department and involved academic research studying prostate cancer with focus on the tumor microenvironment and Cancer Associated Fibroblast. While in the lab my contributions assisted various projects and was cited across published research articles shown in more detail in the Education and Publication section.

    Job Responsibilities
  • Processed prostatic tumor tissues and cultured CAF cells to maintain a biobank repository of patient samples.
  • Treated cell lines with EphB2 & DGAT1 inhibitors and isolated protein lysates to conduct western blots to study the effects of EphB2 inhibition on prostate lipid droplet biogenesis.
  • Generated data for grant proposals by isolating RNA and using RT-qPCR to compare genomic sequence expression.
  • Performed In-Vivo Renal Capsule Xenograft surgeries with PC3 cell capsule grafts in SCID mice and handled post-op care to demonstrate the effects of DGAT1 inhibition on tumor growth.
  • Cut paraffin embedded tissue blocks from SCID mouse kidney samples and performed H&E stains to validate tumor development in Renal-Graft Assays.
  • Developed experiments using CRISPR to modify SNP mutations to alter Ephrin B2 receptor function in epithelial cells.
  • Gave oral presentations on projects in laboratory and departmental meetings.

  • Flow Cytometry Technologist
  • Pathology
  • Applied Diagnostics
  • Nov 2016 - Mar 2017
  • Address: 1140 Business Center Dr Ste 370, Houston, TX 77043
  • Phone Number: (713) 271-4133

My role in this clinical lab involved handling and preparing clinical peripheral blood and bone marrow aspirate samples. My responsiblities included preparing stains and running clinical samples in a Galios 10 color flow cytometer and evaluate anitbody profiles. Afterwards the results were submitted to a clinical pathologist to provide a diagnosis.

    Job Responsibilities
  • Stained, & cover slipped H&E slides for peripheral blood and bone marrow aspirate samples.
  • Ran several clinical hematology screening panels for Leukemia/Lymphoma, Thymoma, & Myeloma panels.
  • Ran bone marrow aspirate & peripheral blood specimen samples on Gallios 10 Color flow cytometers.
  • Conducted and analyzed CBC test on peripheral blood samples.
  • Performed surface and intracellular staining on bone marrow aspirate samples.
  • Gated & analyzed histograms for antibody expression in a variety of panels using FCS express 5.

Education

Texas State University

Bachelor of Science
Biology - Minor in Chemistry

Awards

  • Deans List award for outstanding academic achievement
    Texas State University 03/14
  • Winner of the Bussiness Today group sales presentation competition
    Princeton University 02/13
    • August 2013 - August 2016

    Research Publications

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America - [Apr 2023]
  • Authors
  • Andrew Shum, Sofia Zaichick, Gregory S McElroy, Karis D'Alessandro, Milad J Alasady, Michaela Novakovic, Wesley Peng, Ekaterina A Grebenik, Daayun Chung, Margaret E Flanagan, Roger Smith, Alejandro Morales, Laetitia Stumpf, Kaitlyn McGrath, Dimitri Krainc, Marc L Mendillo, Murali Prakriya, Navdeep S Chandel, Gabriela Caraveo

    • Laboratory Invesitigations - [April 2021]
  • Authors
  • Alejandro Morales, Max Greenberg, Francesca Nardi, Victoria Gil, Simon W. Hayward, Susan E. Crawford & Omar E. Franco

    • Laboratory Invesitigations [February 2019]
  • Authors
  • Francesca Nardi, Omar E. Franco, Philip Fitchev, Alejandro Morales, Renee E. Vickman, Simon W. Hayward, & Susan E. Crawford

    • Other Interests

    Most of my free time outside of work recently has primarily been dedicated to practicing software development. I'm a commited member of a local civic tech group called Chi-Hacknight. Other personal hobbies I try to pursue include going for runs when the weather in Chicago permits and I play kickball in a recreational co-ed group once a week.

    In terms of entertainment I'm a Chicago Bears fan (despite some of the rougher seasons). I've enjoyed exploring and dabbling in photography using a DSLR Nikon camera. Aside from all of that i'm also an avid film buff and enjoy playing videogames. In terms of leisure reading I mostly gravitate torwards a mix of socialogy based non-fiction, classics, and contemprorary fiction.