Hi! I'm Emma.

I recently finished my PhD in Biology at MIT and I’m currently looking for my next role. I grew up in Toronto, Canada and after a brief stint in Switzerland relocated to Cambridge, MA, where I’ve been since 2011 doing science and some other stuff. I love to read, write, talk, travel, and climb rocks. Welcome to my website!

Lately I have spent most of my time investigating the interconnections of RNA processing events under the supervision of Chris Burge. Specifically, I studied the curious phenomenon of Intron-Mediated Enhancement (IME), whereby the presence of an intron has been observed to enhance gene expression at multiple levels and across diverse genes and organisms. I characterized this process in human cells using massively parallel experimental assays as well as genome-wide computational analyses. You can read about what I discovered here!

This project represents the latest chapter in my history with RNA, as I previously studied both extracellular vesicle RNA in the Church Lab and RNA enzymes in the origin of life in the Szostak Lab. For more details about my love of RNA and science, check out this MIT Biology profile.

When I’m not doing or talking about science, you’ll probably find me rock climbing, drinking coffee, playing dungeons and dragons, hanging out with my cats, or some combination of those activities.