Sara Goodwin

I am currently the NGS sequencing core Manager/Research Investigator and member of the McCombie lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. I work in developing and adapting new technologies for Next-Generation sequencing routines and other applications. During my time here I have developed optimizations for the Pacific Biosciences RS instrument for large genome sequencing, evaluated rational pooling schemes for large cohort sequencing on Ilumina platforms, and I have developed applications for sequencing and error corrections on the Oxford Nanopore MinIon. Currently I am using optical mapping strategies to evaluation long structural variants in in cancer lines and Oxford Nanopore for CNV detection in clinical samples.

Prior to my time at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory I was a research assistant in the Anslyn and Ellington Laboratories at The University of Texas. While there I my research focused using Next-Generation sequencing routines to probe non-specific aptamer binding to cell surfaces and development of non-specific aptamer microarrys for detection of variants of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase.

I have also been involved in the clinical research industry at Hill-top Research. There, I was responsible for coordinating clinical research into the efficacy of OTC dermatological products. The major project I was involved in as a coordinator was testing the efficacy of a new product for oral herpes simplex. As part of my work I contracted to Dial to coordinate clinical trials into the efficacy of hand-sanitizer products.

I hold a Ph.D from The University of Texas Austin, in Cell and Molecular Biology with an emphasis in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. I also hold a BS from Arizona State University in Molecular Bioscience and Biotechnology and a minor in Anthropology.