Jason is a Research Assistant with the IIHG Bioinformatics Division.  His relevant areas of experience include R programming, reproducible computational research, data processing and visualization, statistical analysis, and Git version control.  He graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 2013 with a B.S. in Biology.  He continued on with graduate work at UNI utilizing molecular phylogenetic and GIS approaches to address taxonomic questions in a non-model genus of Brassicaceae.  In 2015, he started as a Research Assistant at the University of Iowa with the Department of Internal Medicine in the lab of Dr. Sailesh Harwani.  His group works to investigate the molecular mechanisms driving cholinergic-mediated inflammation in a genetic model of hypertension.  There, Jason conducted immunological assays including western blots, ELISA, and flow cytometry to quantify tissue and cellular protein expression in the context of nicotine-induced hypertension.
 
In 2017, he joined the IIHG Clinical Division to support clinical NGS testing pipelines for diagnosing genetic diseases and quick-turnaround genotyping.  He also worked closely with the IIHG Genomics Division operating liquid handling robots to prepare NGS libraries for whole exome sequencing.  His current projects include the implementation of an orthogonal genotyping assay to verify NGS sample identity which has involved software development with R.  Additionally, he is working to investigate the accuracy of NGS sequencing in PKD1 relative to homologous pseudogenes.  He is also currently serving as a Teaching Assistant for a course in the Department of Biochemistry addressing practical data skills and bioinformatic analyses.  There, he has developed content for lectures and coding exercises with an emphasis on reproducible research.