Kirsten is a sixth-year PhD Candidate in the Whiteman Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. for her thesis she is investigating the horizontal gene transfer of cytolethal distending toxin B, which encodes a DNase, in insects (Diptera: Drosophila and aphids). She is exploring the history and function of this gene transfer using molecular biology, gene-editing, bioinformatics, cellular biology, and phylogenomics.