Sonia Singhal
Sonia in front of Saint Stephen's Basilica in Budapest
I find experimental evolution—watching viruses and bacteria evolve in real-time—to be an exciting way of exploring large questions about evolution. My pet topic involves the evolution and advantages of genetic robustness, the ability of an organism to maintain its phenotype in spite of mutations. (In the opposite case, genetic non-robustness, mutations will have a significant effect on phenotype.) Using a bacterial virus, I am examining a protein-level mechanism for genetic robustness that relates to how well the protein can withstand heat stress.
Outside the lab, I am learning how to convey scientific topics to a general audience. I have given a public talk on experimental evolution at Seattle Town Hall through UW Science Now and Engage-Sciences and an ignite talk through the UW Research Commons Scholars' Studio. I am also working in conjunction with the Pacific Science Center to develop tours and hands-on activities for the museum that will teach visitors about the process of evolution.
Read more about my work:
My Science:
Other Science:
Beating Pathogens at Their Own Game
Less than the Sum of Its Parts: Negative Epistasis in Bacterial Swarming (with Katrina van Raay)
When Herd Immunity Doesn't Work
Outreach:
Explain It to Me like I'm a Four-Year-Old
Other:
Opinion: The Poetry of Scientific Experiments
Book review: Blindsight
Publications through The Triple Helix:
- Urban Agriculture: Farming of the Future. International feature, The Triple Helix, Cambridge 7: 13-15.
- Overfishing: A Global Crisis Δ. The Triple Helix, Yale 4 (2): 24-27.
Creative writing: "At the ends of the earth"
Contact
- singhal [snail] uw [period] edu -> mailto:singhal [snail] uw [period] edu
- Office
- 424 Kincaid Hall