Diana Zafra

Class of 2016

Education: BS in Plant Science at Cal Poly Pomona; MS in Biological Sciences at Cal Poly

 

Biography

Diana was lured into stem cell research when she learned how they could provide the ability to study diseases and establish strategies that could ultimately lead to therapies designed to replace or restore damaged tissue. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) cells are an interest due to their capacity for developing required cell types since “personalized stem cells” could potentially eliminate the complications with rejection and immunosuppression that occurs from transplants from an unrelated donor. Ideally, she is interested in continuing onto her PhD to acquire the necessary skills and continue a career in research; afterwards she may either go into industry or if allowed she would really like to be a professor and engage in research while teaching.

After graduating, Diana became a research associate at Cytori Therapeutics, Inc.