Regina Bou Puerto shares why she pursued a career in science.
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I am a graduate student and I work in immunology.
I've had psoriasis since I was a kid. It's an autoimmune disease where you get rashes on your skin. I think that kind of started my curiosity for science and for diseases, and thinking, like, maybe one day I can cure psoriasis for people like me.
I work in the Alexander Rudensky lab at SKI. Right now, I'm working on a project around multiple sclerosis, which is another autoimmune disease. And it's a very complex disease where there's a lot of immune infiltration and inflammation. And I'm trying to understand all the different players that reach the brain on the spinal cord and cause this disease.
I just enjoy so much being in the lab, learning every day something new. The support system that I have around me, both from all my colleagues and friends in the lab that are there with me — whenever something goes wrong, there's always someone supporting you.
Sasha is a really supportive PI, he really trusts you. He really wants for you to be the best that you can be. And he'll give you all the tools that you need.
I was really excited when I got the Kravis WiSE fellowship. Being awarded a fellowship that specifically works on recognizing this work by women was really special for me. The Kravis WiSE fellowship is going to support me for the next three years of my PhD research. I really look forward to continuing science as a woman to be able to encourage other girls to get into science like I did. I'm actually very proud of what I'm doing and all the other great women scientists that are around me. So I definitely look forward to continuing this path.
