Marcela Muricy ’23 — the URECA Researcher of the Month for October — is in the University Scholars honors program, double majoring in biology and women’s gender and sexuality studies. For the past year, she has been doing research under the mentorship of Steven Glynn, associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, on a project to purify and characterize Tafazzin, an important mitochondrial lipid metabolizing enzyme.
Muricy was one of 10 STEM students selected to participate in the inaugural Frances Velay Women in Science Fellowship program for Summer 2022, and she presented a research poster at the 2022 Summer Symposium on campus. Previously, she was selected as a Giuliano Global Fellow and had the opportunity to conduct research in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the impact of a universal healthcare system; she explored class issues and quality of care.
Muricy is a strong advocate for immersive summer research: “…Now I’m just so much more confident in what I’m doing. And if I have an idea, I can actually execute it. If I have a problem with one of my experiments, I know how to troubleshoot it. And it’s just a completely different dynamic, and I learned so much faster than I thought I was going to.”
Since June 2021, Muricy has been interning as a surgical assistant at the Bariatric Center of Excellence at Richmond University Medical Center. On campus, she has been active as a teaching assistant for biology and chemistry; is a co-founder and vice president of Speaking STEM SBU; and serves as a treasurer and member of SBU Brooklogue, a journal of the humanities and social sciences.
Read the interview with URECA Director Karen Kernan.
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