Carla Bertulfo

Featured on October 17, 2021

Today we’re joined by Carla Bertulfo (they/them), a PhD candidate in Biological Sciences at Columbia University.

Carla graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, after which they completed a Master of Biotechnology at the Pennsylvania State University. For Carla’s doctoral studies, they are using the Nobel Prize-winning gene editing technology CRISPR to explore combinatorial therapies against T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Before embarking on their PhD studies, Carla was a research trainee, graduate researcher and assistant across Thailand, Singapore and the US (including at the National Cancer Institute under the US National Institutes of Health!)

Outside work, Carla is the founder and chairperson of the Association of Filipino Scientists in America.

Some fun facts about Carla:

1. Carla loves the outdoors! When they’re not in the lab, they’re usually out running, hiking, swimming, playing volleyball or biking!
2. Carla can’t sleep without a mosquito net/kulambo to rub their feet on.
3. Carla became an activist during their undergraduate years in UP Los Baños. They continue their organizing work in the US by encouraging the international community to speak out against the injustices and human rights violations in the Philippines.

Let’s all welcome Carla to the Pinoy Scientists fam!