INDEPENDENT RESEARCH AT TRINITY WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

 

Sonia A. Garcia is a junior and currently attends Trinity Washington University in Washington D.C.  Sonia is majoring in biology and double minoring in language and cultural studies and biochemistry. She is currently the vice-president of Trinity’s Ladies F.I.R.S.T (Fierce in Research, Science and Technology) club. Sonia is dedicated to obtaining her Bachelor's degree and is planning to attend medical school. Her dream is to help women and children by becoming an OB/GYN in the future.

 

      Sonia encountered her passion in biology and medical research at Trinity. In her undergraduate coursework, she has taken the following science courses: General Biology, Unity and Diversity, Fundamentals of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy, Biology of Women, and Introductory Genetics. She is currently taking biology courses titled Cell and Molecular Biology and Directed Research taught by Dr. Karobi Moitra. In the Directed Research course, she is learning skills such as lab safety, lab inventory, maintaining a laboratory notebook, how to present her research, pipetting, solution preparation, running a gel electrophoresis, PCR, DNA sequencing, data analysis, primer design using Primer 3, USCS and Ensemble genome browsers, how to read a chromatogram, equipment operation and other experimental methods that will benefit her in a laboratory job or internship in the near future.

 

Sonia will be interning in Summer, 2014 at Childrens National Medical Center in the CNR, Center for Neuroscience Research in Washington, D.C. Sonia will be part of a study looking at signals that are involved in allowing the oligodendrocytes to mature so that they can myelinate the axons to aid in normal brain function. 

 

Sonia appreciates her education and mentoring from her professors at Trinity Washington University. Sonia strongly believes that more women should be represented in the science community and are capable of contributing to the medical field. Outside of the classroom and laboratory, she enjoys spending time with her family and listening to music.