Bianca Wanamaker

Bianca was born and raised in Southern California. She started her undergraduate degree at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech), but due to the COVID Pandemic, she returned home to continue her undergraduate studies at the Vanguard University of Southern California, from which she ultimately received a Bachelor of Science in Biology. While at Vanguard, she participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program under Dr. Itzel Calleja-Macias, investigating the SARS-CoV-2 E gene in the Southern California population. Driven by a life-long love for nuclear physics, she returned to New Mexico Tech to pursue a master in biology but did some nuclear physics research. For the nuclear physics part, she researched the nuclear cross-section of the ⁷¹Ga(γ,α) ⁶⁷Cu photonuclear reaction in the laboratory of Dr. Douglas Wells, while also participating in the Nevada National Security Site’s summer internship program. For the biology masters, she worked in the lab of Dr. Linda DeVeaux, investigating alternative methods to treat multidrug resistant bacterial infections, focusing on the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. Bianca's project on phages that infect S. maltophilia holds a special place in her heart because the bacterium she studied was isolated from her sister's multidrug resistant corneal ulcer. Working on such a personal and impactful project prompted Bianca to continue with her career in biology. After she graduated with a Master of Science in Biology from New Mexico Tech in May 2025, Bianca continued onward to the Integrated Biomedical Science PhD program at the University of Notre Dame. There, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Felipe Santiago-Tirado, where she will be working on the interactions between Cryptococcus neoformans and cells of the central nervous system, particularly microglia.