Biographical Info

Andy Sposato is a developmental biologist in the Gagnon lab (http://www.gagnonlab.org), where she researches how stem cells contribute to developmental processes in adult organs. She combines single-cell RNA sequencing and CRISPR-based lineage tracing to investigate germline stem cells in zebrafish. In both her science and her personal life, she lives by the notion that development does not end once an organism reaches its adult form. Andy is from a small town in Nevada where temperatures are high, precipitation is low, and the pride and joy is “the world’s tallest ice cream stand.” She earned her Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona in 2018. When she isn’t in the lab or riding her road bike, Andy enjoys painting and watching good films. She is pictured here among the cacti she quickly grew to love in Tucson.

Andy Sposato led a Science Right Now! workshop about her studies of stem cells in zebrafish and the role of stem cells in our bodies. She discussed the use of CRISPR in her own research as a tool for tracking stem cell development. Students used “DNA barcodes” to learn how cell lineage is traced cell.