Alexandra VandeLoo is a bioengineering doctoral student here at Georgia Tech. She holds a B.S. in materials engineering and biochemistry from Iowa State and an M.S. in biomedical engineering from Georgia Tech. As a CREATE-X Teaching Fellow, Alexandra mentors and guides students in entrepreneurial and innovative projects, fostering a collaborative learning environment. Ally plays a key part in teaching and optimizing the interdisciplinary CREATE-X Capstone course, where she has helped to shape innovative, real-world learning experiences for hundreds of students across a diverse set of majors. Outside of CREATE-X, she is also passionate about medical innovation. Her current research focuses on developing automated high-throughput methods for screening mutant channel rhodopsin libraries, aiming to advance the directed evolution of membrane channels. Alexandra's other research work has included stem cell research and biomaterials innovation. She aspires to continue her work after completing her Ph.D. by contributing to the creation of reproducible 3-D printed human heart models for clinical and pharmaceutical applications.