Soraya Sandoval is a mentor in the 2024 SURFiN program. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Xinyu Zhao’s lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Sandoval holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology from the University of Arizona and a master’s degree in neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research focuses on investigating the developmental deficits of iPSC-derived neuron and organoid models of fragile X syndrome. Sandoval is the recipient of the NIMH Mental Health Research Dissertation Grant to Enhance Workforce Diversity (R36) and the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center Graduate Student award.

Principal Investigator: Xinyu Zhao