Splash Biography

KALINA TSOLOVA, Junior studying Molecular Biology

Major: Molecular Biology

College/Employer: Princeton

Year of Graduation: 2020

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Hi and welcome to the world of applied biology! My name is Kalina and I come from Bulgaria, a small country in Eastern Europe. My interest in microbiology was nurtured by my mother, who is a molecular biologist by training too.

My research carrier began back in high school, when I was interning in a laboratory developing alternatives to herpes virus drugs. My interests then broadened and last summer I studied whether cancer cells secrete factors that directly recruit neutrophils (*not* fun fact: immune cells can be traitors when it comes to cancer) at the University of Michigan. This year I joined Prof. Fred Hughson's lab and found myself in love with the field of structural biology. I am currently studying the mechanism of vacuolar fusion in yeast.

Past Classes

(Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

S611: To vaxx or not to vaxx: the science and the public opinion in Splash Spring 2019 (Apr. 27, 2019)

Vaccines are regarded as one of the most important advancements in medicine, yet they became a victim of their own success. Many people oppose vaccination due to concerns about vaccine effectiveness and safety, but how scientifically grounded are these claims? What are the truths and the misinformation which have penetrated the anti-vaccine community? How should public health policy address the question of vaccination? Come to share your opinion and learn more about the development, testing and results of vaccines. I will co-teach this course with Conor Wilson, a Princeton undergraduate in the Department of Molecular Biology. Wilson grew up in Ireland, is the first in his family to attend college, and has served as an undergraduate research assistant in the laboratory of Dr. Fred Hughson, whose work focuses on structural biology.