Sandra obtained a B.S. in Microbiology and Cell Science with a minor in French from the University of Florida. While at UF, she worked in the laboratories of Dr. Stephen Gluck at Shands Hospital and Dr. Shannon Holiday at the School of Dentistry identifying interacting partners of yeast and mammalian V-ATPase subunits. She received her Ph.D. in Genetics from Duke University working with Dr. Dennis J. Thiele in the Dept. of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology. Her Ph.D. work focused on the mechanism of AU-rich Element mediated regulation of mRNA stability by CCCH-zinc finger proteins in response to iron deficiency in budding yeast. She is currently pursuing her post-doctoral work under the mentorship of Dr. Craig Mello at UMass Medical School and Dr. David Sherwood at Duke University, and her research focus is the understanding of the molecular function of adenine methylation in development. In her free time, Sandra and her husband take care of their 47 caprine kids at Elodie Farms in Rougemont, NC.
