Amit Rao

Selected for a competitive summer program at Case Western Reserve University's Department of Biomedical Engineering. Gaining hands-on exposure to biomedical research, engineering design principles, and the intersection of medicine and technology — reinforcing a long-term interest in using engineering to advance human health.

Competing year-round as a Driver / Wing across both high school varsity and club seasons. The discipline of 3+ seasons of competitive play carries into everything I do. Awarded Most Improved Player (2024), Regional Finalists (2024), and Team Captain — JV (2023).

Co-founded a streetwear apparel brand with two friends. Responsible for brand identity design, supply chain coordination, social media marketing, and customer service. Learned real-world business operations from the ground up while still in high school.

Built a command-line tool for designing and scoring CRISPR-Cas9 guide RNAs — the computational pipeline used in gene therapy research. Implements SpCas9 PAM site detection on both DNA strands, GC content and homopolymer quality filtering, position-specific on-target activity scoring based on Doench et al. 2014 (Rule Set 1), and seed-region off-target risk estimation. Validated on human VEGFA and EMX1 gene targets from landmark published CRISPR studies. 53 automated tests across 4 modules. Companion to the DNA Sequence Analyzer project.

Built a command-line bioinformatics toolkit in Python for analyzing DNA sequences. Implements FASTA file parsing, GC content analysis with sliding-window visualization, Open Reading Frame detection across all 6 reading frames using the full standard genetic code, and pairwise sequence alignment via Needleman-Wunsch to detect SNPs and classify mutations as transitions or transversions. Validated on real BRCA1 gene fragments from human and mouse genomes — identified a T→C transition at position 44 with 99.51% sequence identity. 48 automated tests across 4 modules.

Gained hands-on experience in computational biology research methods, bioinformatics, and data analysis within a professional research institute environment.

Completed a 6-week pod: Treating Cancer — covering hallmarks of cancer, T cell activation, immune checkpoints, classes of immunotherapies (antibodies, checkpoint inhibitors, adoptive cell therapies), clinical trial stages, and the role of biomarkers in predicting treatment outcomes.

A school club for advanced mathematics beyond the standard curriculum — sharpening analytical thinking and mathematical intuition that feed directly into engineering goals.