Mireille Kamariza, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, UC Los Angeles
Speaker:
Mireille Kamariza, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
UC Los Angeles
Faculty Host: Kevin Plaxco
Title: Cas13 activation mechanisms for programmable RNA sensing
Abstract:
CRISPR-Cas13 systems offer a programmable framework for RNA detection, but their performance is constrained by an incomplete understanding of how molecular recognition is coupled to enzyme activation. This work presents two complementary advances to address this limitation. First, CARMEN integrates CRISPR-Cas13 detection with microfluidic compartmentalization to enable highly multiplexed nucleic acid measurement. Building on this framework, HTM CARMEN enables simultaneous detection of HIV, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Plasmodium species, along with tuberculosis drug-resistance mutations, across diverse clinical sample types with sensitivity comparable to quantitative PCR. Second, target-independent activation (TIA) of Cas13 reveals a non-canonical mode of enzyme activation that relaxes the requirement for strict sequence complementarity and is reliant on T7 RNA Polymerase activity. This phenomenon suggests previously unrecognized coupling between RNA context and Cas13 activity and expands the design space for RNA-guided sensing. Together, these results establish a framework for engineering CRISPR-based sensors that are both scalable and mechanistically informed, enabling robust detection in heterogeneous biological environments.
Bio:
Dr. Mireille Kamariza is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a chemical biologist with expertise developing diagnostics tools against infectious pathogens.
She previously was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows working with Prof. Pardis Sabeti at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. During this time, she developed multiplexed high-throughput diagnostic assays against deadly infectious diseases (e.g., Ebola, Lassa Virus, etc.) to support global outbreak surveillance and prevention. In addition, she partnered with the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) to implement CRISPR-Cas13 diagnostic testing in Ede, Nigeria which may enable routine surveillance of infectious outbreaks in the region. Prior to her appointment at Harvard, she pursued her doctoral studies with Nobel Laureate Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi at UC Berkeley and at Stanford University. At Stanford, she developed a new diagnostic technology for the rapid and simple detection of tuberculosis (TB) at the point-of-care. This project was awarded a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant to test their diagnostic devices in places with high levels of disease, including Johannesburg - South Africa. In addition, her work was translated into a public benefit corporation and, as a co-Founder of OliLux Biosciences, Inc. -- a company dedicated to providing low- cost, portable and reliable diagnostic devices in low-resource settings -- she continues to serve the underserved and underrepresented populations.
Dr. Kamariza has received many awards and honors. Dr. Kamariza was selected as a 2025 Hellman Fellow at UCLA. As well, Dr. Kamariza was named a 2024 ‘Innovators 35 Under 35’ by MIT Tech Reviews, a 2022 ‘Eleven Early-Career Researchers to Watch’ by Nature Medicine, and she was among the Chemical & Engineering News’ Talented 12 in 2020. During her graduate studies, she received the Ruth L. Kirschstein Pre-Doctoral National Research Service (F31) Award from the National Institutes of Health, Diversifying Academia, Recruiting Excellence Doctoral Fellowship from Stanford University, the Chancellor’s Fellowship and the National Science Foundation F Bridge to the Doctorate Graduate Fellowship at UC Berkeley, and the Maximizing Access to Research Careers Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences while at the University of California, San Diego.
She holds a PhD in Biology from Stanford University, a masters degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelors degree in Biochemistry and Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego. She is a proud alumni of San Diego Mesa College, part of the San Diego Community College District.
