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Rosa S

- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at Yale University

Expertise

Neuroscience, Biology

Bio

My name is Rosa Serrano (she/her). I am a first-gen, queer, Chicanx neuroscientist from Southern California. My research interests began with my personal and community experiences with health disparities, specifically with mood, anxiety, and addiction disorders. I am currently studying psychiatric disorders as a Neuroscience PhD candidate at Yale School of Medicine. Outside of my academic studies I like to share my time participating in community care and outreach. I also enjoy cooking, eating, dancing, hiking, yoga, and spending time with my sweet cat.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Stress Induced Epigenetic Changes and Their Alterations to Psychiatric Disorder Propensity

Epigenetic, brain, and behavioral changes in wild type mice before, during, and after early life stress conditions. To do so we will examine blood samples, immunohistochemistry, and various behavioral assays to assess depression and anxiety related behaviors as well as drug seeking behaviors.

Languages I know

English-Native, Spanish-Native, French-Conversational

Teaching experience

Previously, I have taught and mentored students through Fullerton College Biotech, UCI's CNLM, Yale's YBDIC, Yale's SACNAS chapter, and the various labs I've conducted research in. Through these various experiences, I've shared science with K-12 students, taught lab skills, helped students determine courses and find resources for their academic interests, helped students find and apply to research and graduate programs, and prepared students for graduate school interviews. I've successfully helped various through their undergraduate careers and have had many of my mentees enter graduate programs with many entering PhD programs for the 2022-2023 school year.

Credentials

Work experience

University of California (2018 - 2019)
Bridges to the Baccalaureate Summer Researcher
University of California (2019 - 2020)
BRAiN Scholar Student Researcher
University of California (2020 - 2021)
MARC Scholar Student Researcher
University of California (2020 - 2020)
Laboratory Technician in Dr. Marcelo Wood's lab

Education

University of California Irvine (UCI)
BS Bachelor of Science (2021)
Neurobiology
Yale University
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Molecular Psychiatry; Addiction Neuroscience

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