Sofiya Patra

Sofiya earned her Bachelor's degree in Biology with a concentration in Neuroscience and a minor in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. As an undergraduate, she developed an interest in the molecular genetics of neurodegenerative disease through her time as a research assistant in the Nancy Bonini Lab. After graduating, Sofiya worked as a technician in Dr. Minoree Kohwi’s lab at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute of Columbia University. At the Kohwi Lab, Sofiya’s interests expanded to neurodevelopment, where she studied developmentally timed changes in genome architecture. Following this experience, she decided to move toward computational analysis of genomic data and pursued her Master’s in Bioinformatics at Boston University. Now working in the Stevens Lab, Sofiya is excited to combine her interests in neurodegeneration and neurodevelopment to explore the molecular and transcriptional mechanisms that regulate microglial identity, state transitions, and interactions with neurons and other glial cells during brain development and disease.