Sophia Velasco

Sophia is an honors undergraduate student at the University of Florida pursuing a double major in Chemistry (Biochemistry) and Psychology (Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience) on the pre-medical track.

She started research at McKnight Brain Institute during her first semester at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases and cellular signaling in diseases (in comparison to healthy states). Under Abeer Dagra’s guidance, she is researching the effects of alpha-synuclein overexpression on dopamine neuron morphology.

Sophia also started working on a new project focusing on microglia in Summer 2020. Under Dr. Shaerzadeh’s guidance, Sophia is analyzing microglia involvement in diaschisis in young and old ischemic mice brains. This project aims to advance the current knowledge surrounding stroke therapy and recovery.

In addition to her lab experience, Sophia is a Science Olympiad Exam Author for multiple universities (e.g. Cornell, Yale, Stanford, UPenn), a former intern and Steering Committee member at the Neuromedicine Interdisciplinary Clinical and Academic Program, and an Emerging Leader for Dance Marathon at UF 2020.

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