Melvin Garcia, B.S.

Melvin graduated in 2014 with a Bachelors in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. Since then, Melvin has explored the use of personalized medicine working closely with psychiatric patients all over San Diego with neurodegenerative disorders from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and early onset of Alzheimer’s disease in conducting pharmacogenetic testings. Tests that would widely help doctors determine which dosages for drugs were too high, too low, or should completely discontinue or add prescriptions. Accordingly, Melvin joined Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and learned stem cell culture and neuronal differentiation using human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) models to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these neurodegenerative disorders. Now, Melvin has joined the Frazer lab in June 2015 as part of the CardiPS Project in studying the hereditary genetic variability involved in cardiovascular disease using iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. In the near future, Melvin hopes to earn his PhD furthering his experience with iPS technology and studying neurodegenerative disorders.