Hannah Karp is a PhD student working for Professor Jennifer Doudna, a co-discoverer of CRISPR-cas systems. CRISPR-cas systems are able to make precise changes to the DNA of bacteria, animals and plants. My research aims to deliver CRISPR-cas into specific tissues/cells in the human body to better treat human genetic diseases.

Academic researchers all over the US have utilized their expertise to open COVID-19 diagnostic labs to combat this pandemic. In Berkeley, the Innovative Genomics Institute converted its laboratory equipment into a major COVID-19 testing facility within a few weeks of the US outbreak. This COVID-19 testing facility is run entirely by scientist volunteers and is crucial to gather epidemiological data and enable companies to re-open. As a volunteer scientist I have been helping to assembly testing kits which allow for this facility to test ~2,000 people a day (at capacity).