Amy Kaneshiro graduated from Pomona College in 2022 with a B.A. in Molecular Biology. She spent the summer of 2019 in the Kato Lab as an undergraduate research assistant studying the receptors and ligands involved in male Caenorhabditis elegans gonad linker cell migration. As an undergraduate research assistant the following summer, Amy compiled and interpreted journal articles and news from various sources to better understand the basic science behind COVID-19, vaccine development, and the public's response to the pandemic. This work formed part of the freshman seminar "Science and the Public's Health," collaborating with Professor O'Leary and Professor Fu O'Leary. In her senior year, Amy joined the Liu Lab and worked on an RNA-aptamer-based biosensor for 3’-5' cyclic adenosine monophosphate in Escherichia coli for her experimental thesis. 

At present, Amy is a postbaccalaureate research fellow in Dr. Hanna Kim's lab, the Juvenile Myositis Pathogenesis and Therapeutics Unit at the NIAMS. Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) is a condition that causes weakness, skin rashes, and other systemic symptoms. The cause or etiology of JDM is not well understood. Existing treatment involves using immunosuppression medications that are only partially effective and can have adverse effects. The lab aims to understand the pathogenesis of JDM better and hopes to identify a more targeted treatment. Amy's work will focus on identifying dysregulated proteins and pathways in JDM and JDM myositis-autoantibody groups, including those that correlate with disease activity.