Research · 10
Gut bacteria, mRNA design, sepsis, Astrobees
The independent projects, the USC thread, and a summer writing autonomy for free-flying robots.
Personal site · v0.1 · updated as things happen
Jalen Neuroscientist Cai
scroll over it, or use the arrow keys
·What this is
I tend to collect questions faster than I answer them. Some turn into research projects, some into songs, some into organizations, and some into side quests that probably did not need to become this serious.
This site is a running record of the things I have built, studied, performed, competed in, and gotten unusually curious about.
- Congressional Award Gold Medal, 2026
- Semifinalist for the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program as listed by The Mercury News · letter (PDF)
01 Six threads
Pick a thread
Each one is a row of pictures, drifting past. Drag it, scroll it sideways, or hover to hold it still. Every picture opens the longer version.
Music · 8
Post-Credits, pit orchestras, and a lot of drumming
30+ original songs, a debut album, and honor ensembles.
Community & Impact · 3
Building Sympify, and what it cost
Eight chapters, three countries, four clinics — and the parts of building a nonprofit that don't fit on an about page.
Athletics · 3
200 fly, and water polo
Short section. Deliberately.
Business & camps
HCBC, Harvard, and a summer at MIT
A business competition that escalated, a public-health symposium in Boston, and Astrobee robots at MIT.
Side Quests · 6
The unfileable ones
Omori, snowboarding, golf, food, and whatever is next.
02 Taking up most of the year
The three that get the late nights
Everything else on this site is real, but these are the ones currently running.
01 Independent research 2025–Present
Can Gut Bacteria Change the Brain?
Independent gut–brain axis & probiotic research
Whether biological changes linked to alcohol and caffeine exposure can be used to identify gut microbes worth testing as possible modulators of the gut–brain axis — worked out through metabolomic comparison, a computational ranking pipeline, and now preliminary proof-of-concept work back at the bench.
Accepted to BLSME 2027 Gut–brain axisMetabolomicsComputational screeningWet lab
- The wider USC research thread — where the wet-lab habits came from
02 Independent project · USC mentorship 2026–Present
CAI-Vax: Designing Personalized mRNA Cancer Vaccines
Computational tools for comparing candidate designs
An independent project exploring how computational tools can help compare candidate designs for personalized mRNA cancer vaccines — evaluating cancer-associated antigen sequences, comparing design options, and organizing candidates for later experimental testing.
Ongoing mRNA designComputational screeningImmuno-oncologyTeam project
Public write-upTODO— link not available yet: Add public documentation once it existsTeam pageTODO— link not available yet: Add team roster/credits if the team is happy to be listed
03 Nonprofit · founder 2022–Present
Sympify
Fueling Futures Foundation
It started as a reverse-dictionary prototype: instead of looking up a disease and finding its symptoms, start with the symptoms. It has since become an organisation with chapters in three countries. This page is not the organisation's pitch — it is what building it actually looked like.
Ongoing Health equityNonprofitProductTeam building
- The published research behind Sympify
- Night Market performances as community service — a different kind of community work