Frida Sofia Chavez

Background

About Frida Sofia Chavez

Coming to the United States at the age of twelve was not only a change of language but a complete change of lifestyle. Growing up in Tijuana, Mexico, I attended school for a total of five months. I was highly unfamiliar with a classroom until I arrived in the United States, but quickly fell in love with it. Specifically, with math and science classrooms where language was not a barrier. I broke generational chains when I first attended college and received my Bachelor's in Biology. During my time here, I fulfilled my curiosity outside of the classroom through scientific research. I initiated a study on the effects of neurotoxic beta Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) on the nervous system of Schmidtea mediterranea. There is a strong correlation between cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and BMAA exposure; using planarians as a model system to expand knowledge on the effects of BMAA may be highly beneficial to find the etiology of related neurological diseases. Additionally, I explored a novel method of tracking HipA kinase phosphorylation as a potential antimicrobial target. Through my MS in Biotechnology at Rush University, I am first author of an investigation that aims to improve the quality of data within the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery using large, anonymous data sets like Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing tool. There is a major lack of evidence and data in aesthetic studies. Assessing the precise level of facial attractiveness has proven to be challenging. At the forefront of cosmetic procedures is the performance of rhytidectomies and their evolving technique-based refinements. Ambitiously, we seek to compare SMAS plication and deep-plane technique using the opinion of the casual observer via crowdsourcing, in hopes of enhancing the standard of data in the facial plastic and reconstructive surgery domain. Taking a large-scale approach and using the knowledge of crowds shows potential to advance the field of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery.