Sofia is a rising senior at Fairfield University where she studies behavioral neuroscience. Using behavioral assays, she is investigating the intersection between stress and cocaine use disorder under Dr. Karl Schmidt.

As an Amgen Scholar at UCLA, Sofia is working under Dr. Carlos Portera-Cailliau (PI) and Dr. Anand Suresh (post-doc) on a project to identify novel treatments for Fragile X syndrome (FXS) – the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. There are no currently approved treatments for FXS that address its underlying biology. The Portera-Cailliau lab adopted a symptom-to-molecule approach, combining behavioral, circuit, and transcriptomic studies in a mouse model of FXS to uncover molecular signatures of circuit dysfunction that could be targeted for therapy. Their previous work has identified upregulation of EPAC2, a guanine nucleotide exchange factor which regulates synaptic turnover and stability, in Fmr1 knockout (KO) mice, the best studied animal model of FXS. Sofia’s project will evaluate whether systemic administration of an EPAC2 inhibitor, ESI-05, can ameliorate multiple behavioral deficits in Fmr1 KO. She will utilize machine learning approaches to evaluate animal behavior and evaluate the role of EPAC2 inhibition in FXS.

Sofia would like to thank Dr. Carlos Portera-Cailliau, Dr. Anand Suresh, the Portera-Cailliau Lab, and Dr. Karl Schmidt for their invaluable mentorship. She would also like to thank the Amgen Foundation and UCLA Amgen Scholars Program Staff for this opportunity to learn more within the vast field of neuroscience.