Margaret Tse

Margaret Tse

Degrees

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, UCI, 2017 expected
BS, Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 2012

Research

Rare Event Sampling and Metastability Analysis of Epigenetic Landscapes and Cell-Fate Transitions

Biography

Margaret Tse is a doctoral candidate in Dr. Elizabeth Read's laboratory in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCI. She uses computational methods to study gene regulatory networks, the interactions between genes and regulatory molecules that determine the amount and type of proteins in the cell. These extremely large networks involve randomness, making them difficult to study using traditional computational and experimental methods. However, understanding these networks could lead to new techniques for controlling cell phenotypes. Using specialized computational techniques and solid scientific communication skills, she translates these networks into simple maps for the scientific community and the general public.

Why is science communication important to you personally?

Without effective science communication, most interdisciplinary research projects, like mine, would be practically impossible. So much research is spent reinventing the wheel if two disciplines have trouble understanding each other, and I definitely want to be understood.