Hi!
My name is Ruilin (pronounced like 'Ray-lene').
I am an aspiring scientist who just finished my PhD in chemistry from Purdue University in Dec 2025! My scientific passion is immunotherapeutics discovery, especially targeting chronic inflammation that underlies neurodegeneration, cancer, and pain.
Outside of science, I am a huge foodie and I love exploring different cultures through food. I also try to recreate some food I really enjoy at home. I enjoy cooking because it is very similar to wet lab experiments, except it's very hard to fail, because usually even "negative outcomes" are very delicious! 😋
My name is Ruilin (pronounced like 'Ray-lene').
I am an aspiring scientist who just finished my PhD in chemistry from Purdue University in Dec 2025! My scientific passion is immunotherapeutics discovery, especially targeting chronic inflammation that underlies neurodegeneration, cancer, and pain.
Outside of science, I am a huge foodie and I love exploring different cultures through food. I also try to recreate some food I really enjoy at home. I enjoy cooking because it is very similar to wet lab experiments, except it's very hard to fail, because usually even "negative outcomes" are very delicious! 😋
My Research
I'm studying how dysfunctional glia cells (non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system) contribute to Alzheimer's Disease and traumatic brain injury. Additionally, I am very passionate about drug discovery and the translational value of research, so I've been involved in multiple project testing immunomodulating small molecules in various immune cell types. Some procedures I routinely do include:
- Primary immune cell isolation and culture 🧫
- Transcardial perfusion and brain surgeries of rodents 💘
- Mammalian cell culture and cell engineering
- Multicolor flow cytometry 🌊
- Immunofluorescence imaging (IHC/ICC) 🔬
- Immunoassays (ELISA, Western Blot)
- High-throughput drug screening (w/ robotic liquid handlers)
... among other biochemical assays.
Although I have been mainly a 'wet' researcher, I am super interested in -omics and bioinformatics. I currently process biological samples for MS-based metabolomics and proteomics, and I am proficient in data analysis using R (EdgeR, ggplot) and Python (Matplotlib, Seaborn).
I would love to learn more about data science and the integration of automation workflows and AI/ML in drug discovery in the future 😊
Although I have been mainly a 'wet' researcher, I am super interested in -omics and bioinformatics. I currently process biological samples for MS-based metabolomics and proteomics, and I am proficient in data analysis using R (EdgeR, ggplot) and Python (Matplotlib, Seaborn).
I would love to learn more about data science and the integration of automation workflows and AI/ML in drug discovery in the future 😊
Outside Lab
I love traveling and learning about new food. Although I don't have much time for hobbies, but yoga, books, video games, boba tea, and my pet rats are sources of great comfort for me in my everyday stressful life.
Here are some places I've been and food I really love <3
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hotpot from my hometown - the soup base is fermented pepper and tomato
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Bells Canyon Trail in Salt Lake City
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A "beginner-friendly" trail in Romania
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Great Wall in Beijing, China
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Jasmine tea flavored ice cream - my all-time favorite!
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Jiuzhaigou National Park - the Yellowstone of China!
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"Silk Babies" - a variety of spring rolls from my hometown, also the best food invented ever imo!
Teaching
I used to hate teaching. I admit, but now I am starting to understand why so many people love it. I find it extremely satisfying to see students learn and grow in their own beautiful ways.
I also realized I don't hate teaching. I just hated how I was taught. Throughout my life, everyone was treated the same way and teachers completely ignored our uniqueness. I hated that, and I will never do the same to my students.
Most of my student feedback mention "patience" and "lenient grader". I think this sums up my teaching philosophy. I don't believe in low grades and harsh criticism. The world would be a much better place if we give each other more positive feedback. 🌻
Awards and Achievements
Please join me in celebrating my incomplete list of (self-awarded) awards and achievements (✿◡‿◡) :
- My parents' favorite (and only) daughter
- Not a picky eater and love vegetables
- Figured out how to solve Baguenaudier (aka 九连环) by myself when I was in 9th grade
- Fluent chopstick user
- Almost never bitten by rodents because I handle them calmly
- Super attractive to mosquitoes
- Watched all Studio Ghibli movies (favorite is Princess Mononoke)
- Fast pipet tip refiller
Research awards are boring so I saved them for my CV. I also think recommendation letters from moms are more valuable than those from professors who barely know us outside work.
Publications
Caitlin E. Randolph, Katherine A. Walker, Ruilin Yu, Connor Beveridge, Palak Manchanda, Gaurav Chopra
Glia
Impact Induces Phagocytic Defect in Reactive Microglia
Ruilin Yu, Edmond A. Rogers, Palak Manchanda, Connor H. Beveridge, Caitlin E. Randolph, Timothy B. Beauclair, Krupal P. Jethava, Riyi Shi, Gaurav Chopra
Cinzia Vicidomini, Travis D. Goode, Kathleen M. McAvoy, Ruilin Yu, Conor H. Beveridge, Sanjay N. Iyer, Matheus B. Victor, Noelle Leary, Liam Evans, Michael J. Steinbaugh, Zon Weng Lai, Marina C. Lyon, Manuel Rico F.S Silvestre, Gracia Bonilla, Ruslan I. Sadreyev, Tobias C. Walther, Shannan Ho Sui, Takaomi Saido, Kei Yamamoto, Makoto Murakami, Li-Huei Tsai, Gaurav Chopra, Amar Sahay
BioRxiv, 2024
Dandan Fan, Qi Yue, Jian Chen, Cong Wang, R. Yu, Ziyi Jin, Shujie Yin, Qinyue Wang, Luo Chen, Xueling Liao, Chengyuan Peng, Jianping Zhang, Zhonglian Cao, Y. Mao, Ruimin Huang, Liang Chen, Cong Li
Oncoimmunology, 2021
Yun-Ming Qiao, Rui-Lin Yu, Ping Zhu
RSC Adv., vol. 9(60), The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019, pp. 35124-35134