Awarded in 2016
Home Department: Bioengineering
Faculty Advisors: KC Huang (Bioengineering, Microbiology & Immunology) and Justin Sonnenburg (Microbiology & Immunology)

Research Title: Systems physiology of stress: How bacteria respond to environmental changes

Research Description: Bacterial cells constantly face multiple stresses, such as starvation, antibiotics, and competition between individual cells. Understanding how cells survive under stressed conditions (and grow again when environment becomes favorable) is critical for controlling latent bacterial infections and lessening disease burden. Handuo’s research focuses on understanding how individual cells respond to these stressed conditions, which has potential applications in translational medicine. 

WHERE IS SHE NOW?

Handuo is a senior scientist at BillionToOne. In her work, she develops models and analytical approaches that transform genomic and clinical data into actionable insights for research, clinical decision support, and future data-driven products. She also builds AI tools that support internal scientific operations and lay the foundation for future real-world data products leveraging BillionToOne’s unique genomics and clinical dataset for pharmaceutical and research partners.