Nastexo is a rising senior at Mount Rainier High School and attends Highline College as a running start student. At the college, she is pursuing an Associate Degree of Science in Biology. She chose to pursue a running start pathway due to the multitude of class choices it offered. Nastexo has always found herself torn between the humanities and sciences, but now she can take classes ranging from ethnic and gender studies to organic chemistry. Nastexo fills her free time with fantasy novels and music.
Nastexo has always been fascinated by biology. The first time Nastexo read the book Immune by Philip Dettmer, she knew biology was the career for her. The book sparked her curiosity about immunology and cancer, leading her to pursue opportunities to begin working in the field. The joy of reading Immune led her to work at ISB under the VOICES internship in May 2023, a program hosted by the Highline School District. During the program, Nastexo conducted a research project that analyzed the population size of Halobacterium in CO2-infused media.
This summer, Nastexo continued her Halobacterium research with her research partners Phuong Tran and Kally Chamberlain under the mentorship of Claudia Ludwig. Their project investigated the recovery and resiliency dynamics of Halobacterium Salinarum NRC-1 in relation to future climate scenarios the species will face.
Nastexo plans to study biochemistry and immunology to become an infectious disease researcher. She is interested in developing vaccines and novel immunotherapies. Her training at ISB will help her develop the systems thinking skills needed to create these tools.