Lauretta van Helden

June 2024 – September 2025

Coming from a biomedical background working with mice, I joined the González lab to get a deeper understanding of genetics and exploring the environmental research side. As a lab technician I am responsible for our stocks of D. melanogaster. I am gratified to be working on generating a world-wide collected genetic database, collaborating with schools to teach them about the importance of science and bringing attention to the environment. Next to the citizen science project, I am working on a project of detecting transposable elements associated with adaptation in natural populations of D.melanogaster present in our lab. For me seeing the possibilities of working on genetics in insects is fascinating and educational. Dr. González, her lab, and the IBB has already shown me many sides of what environmental research is and why it is so important.