User:Nserrao

Introduction
Hi, my name is Natasha Serrao and I am going into my fourth academic year. Once I am done my undergraduate degree, I would like to continue doing a Masters of Public Health. I would like to travel to India, Thailand and New Zealand before I do any further studies.

Personal Life
I was born in Dubai (it is located in the Middle East) and lived there for six years till I moved to Canada and my hometown is Mississauga. I come from a family of five with two siblings; an older brother and a sister who is older as well by seven minutes (we are twins, but look nothing alike)!!! I recently went on a vacation back to Dubai over the Christmas holidays and it was the first time I had been back in 14 years. It was a really nice trip since I got to see a lot of my family but it took me five days to get there because I got stuck in Ireland due to the airport closings in London.

Education and Academic Career
My high school was Loyola Catholic Secondary school where I won an award in French. I am attending University of Guelph and am going into my fourth year Studying Molecular Biology and Genetics.

I am currently working in a molecular lab at the university and our lab specializes in DNA Barcoding. I have been working there for one year and enjoy learning about biodiversity. DNA barcoding identifies an unknown specimen according to a reference library using a portion of mitochondrial DNA. As my fourth year project, I hope to barcode invasive plecos to try to determine their native origins once they have entered foreign waters.

Hobbies
Some of the activities I enjoy doing during my free time are:
 * Soccer
 * Baking
 * Reading
 * Watching Television
 * Biking
 * Science

My favourite topics in science are

 * 1) Astronomy
 * 2) Biodiversity
 * 3) Genetics
 * 4) Biochemistry