Claudia Prieto Alcaide

My name is Claudia Prieto Alcaide and I am from Madrid, Spain. For my undergrad I attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville. In 2022 I received my Bachelor of Science in Biology, and in 2023 I received my Bachelor of Science in Health Science. While attending UNCA, I worked on a project to genetically confirm the hybridization between two North American pitcher plants. I also worked on a project involving knock down expression of genes in bacteria using CRISPRi to investigate their function. 

I chose to attend Penn State because of the diverse curriculum and the hands-on aspect of every course, which helps students get ready to work in a professional setting after the program. While studying at Penn State, I am also part of the Track and Field Club.

I am currently working in Dr. Holland's lab, where our goal is to sequence 10,000 mitogenomes and upload them to the European DNA Profiling Group (EDNAP) MtDNA Population Database (EMPOP). During the summer I was doing a research project in Croatia on the relevance of the Hyoid bone in archeological and forensic investigations.