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    Lara van Rooyen

    Lara van Rooyen Research Mentor
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    Education

    Undergraduate: Harvard University
    Doctorate: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

     

    Lara van Rooyen

    Research Mentor

    Lara is a PhD candidate in pharmacology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill who has experience mentoring up-and-coming researchers. Lara is also a college admissions advising expert, having helped students get accepted to multiple top 30 schools.

    Lara earned her bachelor's degree from Harvard in molecular and cellular biology and psychology, where she conducted research on pancreatic islet metabolism at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Specifically, she investigated how to make these cells more resilient to diabetes-causing stressors and help them perform their normal function of secreting insulin. After graduating, Lara worked in biotech, focusing on creating innovative treatments for rare muscular dystrophies. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in pharmacology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she works on CD8 T cell cancer immunology-the study of how to get certain immune cells to recognize and kill cancer cells.

    Throughout all of Lara's educational and career stages, she has remained passionate about advising up-and-coming researchers, helping them understand challenging concepts, create robust research designs, and write eloquent papers.

    Fun Fact

    Lara grew up in South Africa before moving to the United States for college at the age of 18. In South Africa, she and her family had a pack of five golden retrievers!