Noreen Bernadette Dela Peña received her B.S. in Biology and minor in Chemistry at University of Missouri – St. Louis. Noreen did an internship at an agriculture company where her project was to determine whether certain enzymes can help plants go through biotic and abiotic stresses by improving its defense response; increase in apoptosis-like programmed cell deaths (AL-PCD). She joined the Khader Lab in February 2022.