Kayla Kennamore is a student at Hartnell college majoring in Biology. Through the support from her mentors in MESA  and the STEM Internship Program, she was able to participate in the 2024 iGem Program. This program at the University of Santa Cruz Baskin School of Engineering is designed for students interested in pursuing degrees in Biological Sciences. Their project focused on creating synthetic milk. Due to being on a time constraint, they tried to genetically manipulate cyanobacteria to transform faster. With collaboration from specialists at UCSF’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine experts, they explored the nutritional benefits and potential applications of the project. Kayla conducted in-depth analysis of genetic sequences (PAM, TAG, RBS) and optimized CRISPR array mapping using Improbizer, significantly improving the accuracy of cyanobacteria transformation for synthetic biology applications.

Kayla had the privilege of speaking at a global conference in Paris, France, attended by over 1,000 professionals, where she shared insights from their research. Kennamore expressed how huge of a moment this was for her. She mentions, “I felt that the team was finally able to display a lot of the hard work that went into the project.” Kayla faced some challenges while being abroad like imposter syndrome, due to a portion of the material being foreign. Kayla overcame this by focusing on staying positive and grateful for the opportunity she was experiencing. She recognized the following, “I wasn’t expected to be at the same level, and once I let go of unrealistic expectations, I started to adjust and grow.”

This internship experience taught Kayla that growth takes time and it is normal to face challenges along the way. This mindset allowed her to be more patient with herself, focus on her progress, and not get discouraged by what she didn’t know but instead embrace her own path. She also gained experience in the lab and learned how to analyze and identify genetic sequences and optimize CRISPR array mapping. She gained new friends and connections along the way. Kayla expressed, “Beyond the scope of science and the skills that surround that I feel like I now feel more comfortable with public speaking, networking, and I am more confident in my journey and capabilities in science.”