{"id":19654,"date":"2025-03-18T20:02:42","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T20:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/natsci.uprrp.edu\/ramp-up\/?page_id=19654"},"modified":"2025-06-27T17:20:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T17:20:43","slug":"lara-v-ballester-torres-2024-2025","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/natsci.uprrp.edu\/ramp-up\/lara-v-ballester-torres-2024-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Lara V. Ballester Torres (2024-2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tLinkedin<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Short Bio<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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My name is Lara Ballester Torres.<\/strong> I\u2019m<\/span> from <\/span>Ponce<\/span>, Puerto Rico.<\/span> I graduated from the University of Puerto Rico Ponce <\/span>Campus<\/span>. <\/span>I<\/span> have a bachelor\u2019s degree in natural sciences with a major in Biomedicine. I am currently working on the JARM lab with my mentor Jos\u00e9 A. Rodr\u00edguez Mart\u00ednez. There, I have been <\/span>acquiring<\/span> computational skills to perform experimental data analysis, specifically for DNA affinity purification sequencing (DAP-seq) technique.\u00a0<\/span><\/span> My <\/span>future plans<\/span> changed when I entered the RaMP-UP program, it made me more interested in bioinformatics. I am currently looking for more information about bioinformatics and their application in different areas such as pharmaceutical industry or in genetics. In the future, I want to keep studying and training in this area to contribute to the science community and be more involved in scientific communication.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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A fun fact or hobby: <\/b><\/em>My hobbies are reading and listening to music.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Research<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Mentor:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Jos\u00e9 A. Rodr\u00edguez Mart\u00ednez<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>, PhD<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Co-mentor:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Josu\u00e9 Perez Santiago<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>, PhD<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Project Title:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Determining<\/span> SIX transcription factors and genomic binding sites using a DNA-affinity purification approach<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Project Description:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Transcription factors (TFs) are DNA-binding proteins that recognize cis-regulatory elements to either promote or repress gene expression. TFs are studied using antibody-dependent assays such as CHIP-seq, however, these assays prove to be challenging in non-model organisms due to antibody unavailability. Using a DNA purification-based assay we can overcome these limitations. DNA affinity purification sequencing (DAP-seq) is a high-throughput in vitro technique which provides detailed, high-resolution genome wide transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) and <\/span>identifies<\/span> a high number of TF-DNA interactions. In brief, DAP-seq works by using a recombinant protein and genomic DNA, which will be incubated together, and TF-bound DNA will be eluted and sequenced for analysis. We applied DAP-seq to study SIX TF binding specificities in Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster), focusing on <\/span>optix<\/span>. Understanding these TF-DNA interactions is essential for studying the role of TFs in gene expression and with DAP-seq we could also study non-model organisms.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linkedin Short Bio My name is Lara Ballester Torres. I\u2019m from Ponce, Puerto Rico. I graduated from the University of Puerto Rico Ponce Campus. I have a bachelor\u2019s degree in natural sciences with a major in Biomedicine. I am currently … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19654","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/natsci.uprrp.edu\/ramp-up\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/natsci.uprrp.edu\/ramp-up\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/natsci.uprrp.edu\/ramp-up\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natsci.uprrp.edu\/ramp-up\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natsci.uprrp.edu\/ramp-up\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19654"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/natsci.uprrp.edu\/ramp-up\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20078,"href":"https:\/\/natsci.uprrp.edu\/ramp-up\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19654\/revisions\/20078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/natsci.uprrp.edu\/ramp-up\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}