NexGeneGirls — high-school summer project

blue & bold — Rogala Lab member
Ψ — equal contribution
@ — corresponding author

This summer, the Rogala Lab hosted two high school students in partnership with NexGeneGirls. The NexGeneGirls program integrates immersive hands-on research, leadership development, and career exploration to empower high school girls and provide them with early exposure to research in STEM. Scholars of the program engage in research within leading Bay Area industry or academic laboratories, collaborating closely with mentors to develop and execute a scientific project.



Leila Haile and Danielle Carino joined the Rogala Lab under the mentorship of Karen Linde-Garelli and Dr. Kacper Rogala. They trained in experimental methods of the lab to learn about and ultimately execute the processes involved in going from “gene to protein” and pilot the production of cost-effective functional enzymatic tools for the lab. The NexGeneGirls scholars focused on cloning, expression, and purification of a bacterial nuclease enzyme to use during the cell lysing process for routine protein production. The outcome of their work was presented at the NexGeneGirls gala in San Francisco, and it was the first in a pipeline for making homemade enzymes for the lab – to use as an alternative for purchasing costly consumables.