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Careers in the Life Sciences: Preparing for academia, science and technology in current times
Assistant Professor Laura P. Zanello
Department of Biochemistry
Course: NASC 092-18Z
Call #: 19783
Tuesdays, 10:10-11:00am, Boyce Hall 2476

This course will introduce students in the life sciences to current challenges that they may encounter when developing a professional life in academia, as well as science and technology-related careers. The instructor will present the students with real life situations in which they will have to critically define career goals and how to achieve those goals. In addition, the students will be provided with information on different career paths in the life sciences, how to find sources of information, what society expects of them as professionals, and how to be competitive in the modern world. We will use problem-based learning, and classes will be highly interactive. Grading will be based on class participation and the completion of brief assignments. The instructor currently teaches Bio5A, BCH 101, BCH 186, and directs undergraduate as well as graduate students' research in cell biology and biophysics applied to the biomedical field.

Reading List:

Will be provided during the course.

Brief Biographical Statement:

Dr Zanello earned a Bachelor and Doctorate degree in Biology from the Universidad Nacional del Sur in Argentina. She moved to the US in 1995 to take a postdoctoral position at UCR in cell biology and endocrinology. In 2000 she started her independent research in the area of ion channel modulation by steroid hormones in bone cells. She has been a faculty at UCR since 2005. She has published numerous scientific papers in her field, given invited talks at highly regarded universities nationwide, and taught classes to undergraduate as well as graduate students in CNAS. Her current field of research is at the intersection of cell biology and nanotechnology of bone regeneration. Dr. Zanello is fully bilingual in Spanish and English.