Dr. Sonya Neal

Biography

Sonya Neal is an Associate Professor at the University of California, San Diego, where she studies the mechanistic underpinnings and medical importance of misfolded proteins. Her research focuses on understanding protein homeostasis and how quality control systems in cells maintain properly folded proteins. Neal’s work highlights the critical health implications of defects in protein homeostasis, which are linked to aging, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. Her investigations aim to answer fundamental questions about how cells maintain protein homeostasis, how changes in this process lead to pathology, and how modulation of protein homeostasis could be utilized to treat diseases. Utilizing a variety of model organisms including yeast, mammalian cells, and zebrafish, Neal employs genetics, biochemistry, functional genomics, and cell and molecular biology techniques. She is dedicated to training the next generation of scientific leaders in her lab. Neal received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2013 and completed her postdoctoral studies at the University of California, San Diego. She became a faculty member in 2018 and is a recipient of the Burroughs Wellcome Postdoctoral Diversity Enrichment Award and the Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship.

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