Sofia Wyszynski, BA

I have been the ViraCore Junior Specialist Scientist in the McManus lab since January 2022. In the ViraCore, I provide custom lentivirus preps in standard prep, 96 well prep, and mega prep formats for scales of 10^6 to 10^7 virus particles. The goal of the ViraCore at UCSF is to provide the UC research community with the highest quality virus at the lowest price possible.

Prior to my position as the ViraCore Junior Specialist Scientist, I completed an internship in the McManus lab between my junior year and final senior semester as a visiting scholar from Boston University. During this internship, I worked under the guidance of Dr. Wilson Poon on engineering more efficient and deliverable Cas nucleases for in vivo genome editing.

I received a Bachelors of Arts in Biology with a Specialization in Behavior from Boston University. During my time at BU, I completed two academic directed studies in Dr. Cheryl Knott’s lab— the first of which being an analysis of juvenile orangutan food processing behavior and the second being fecal isotope analysis in Bornean orangutans. I also completed an independent research project on the evolutionary advantage of blood group O and malaria, focusing on the frequency of the blood type throughout Latin America under the guidance of Dr. Carolyn Hodges-Simeon. I am currently working on a manuscript to submit for publication. Additionally, I have published an editorial in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology about the experiences of undergraduate STEM researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

My ultimate career goal is to attend medical school and become an Emergency Room Pediatrician.

Outside the lab, I enjoy going to the beach and taking advantage of San Francisco’s great Asian eats.