Linnea Saunders

Originally from New Hampshire, I attended Proctor Academy and developed a love of science from my high school coursework. Unable to decide whether I liked my chemistry or biology courses better, I chose both, majoring in Biochemistry at the University of Vermont. While at the University of Vermont I completed an undergraduate thesis project in the Hondal Lab, developing an affinity chromatography resin that can selectively bind proteins with thiol modifications, and elute them without removing those thiol modifications.
I knew when I finished college that I intended to pursue my PhD, but I wanted more experiences in scientific research before starting my PhD. After graduating, I moved to Boston and started working at Entrada Therapeutics in downstream protein purification, purifying recombinant antibody fragments from E. coli and yeast. A year later, I left Entrada for a role at Repertoire Immune Medicines, where I joined the yeast display team, leveraging yeast display to affinity mature TCRs against novel tumor-antigens. My industry experience fostered a passion for disease-focused research, with the hope of discovering new potential targets for therapeutics.

Having always harbored an interest in prion diseases since learning about them in my AP Biology class, I entered BU hoping to find a lab researching neurodegenerative disorders. I joined Dr. David Harris’ lab in the summer of 2025, where I am now investigating mechanisms of resistance to genetic CJD.