U-RISE Trainees

Julianna Bonetti came to NSU with a passion for research from North New Jersey. With past research experience at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in tissue regeneration, she committed to NSU’s Razor’s Edge Research program. She is currently a third-year chemistry major with minors in research studies, pre-health, and psychology. Julianna remains very involved on campus as president of the Pressure Dance team and Inter-Organization Council (IOC) chair of the Chemistry club. Before Julianna’s acceptance into the U-RISE program, she worked as an Emergency Room medical scribe for Florida Medical Center where she learned how many patients suffer a multitude of comorbidities that directly affect their everyday life. One that caught her interest the most was the effects dementia has on a patient’s health. Julianna is currently involved in neurodegenerative research with mentors Dr. Robert Speth and Dr. Lisa Robison. The overall ongoing research project is to determine whether anti-hypertensive drugs can work as a treatment for the neurodegenerative disease, cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Furthermore, Julianna hopes to study the effects cerebral amyloid angiopathy may have on other systems of the body apart from the neurovascular system. She anticipates graduating in May of 2025 and pursuing a Ph.D. in either Medicinal Chemistry or Pharmacology. 

Mentored by Dr. Robison and Dr. Speth

Melanie Mendonca is a third-year double major in Behavioral Neuroscience and Biology at Nova Southeastern University with minors in Experiential Leadership, Honors Transdisciplinary Studies, and Pre-Health. Originally from New Jersey, Melanie graduated from John P. Stevens High School while serving as a national officer for the career and technical organization, Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA). Through this organization, she developed a strong sense of leadership and became certified as a national parliamentarian with the National Association of Parliamentarians.

At NSU, Melanie is a part of both Razor’s Edge Leadership and the Farquhar’s Honors College. With a deep passion for making positive change, she is a senator for the Undergraduate Student Government Association and is in leadership for the Inter-Organizational Council. Always eager to meet new people and connect with new people, she is also an Honors Advocate for the Farquhar’s Honors College and a mentor for underclassmen through the Student Success Program.

            Melanie is an inquisitive individual, and as a URISE trainee, her area of research is oral sciences and translational research. Specifically, Melanie is researching epigenetic regulation in fluoride toxicity to develop a potential novel strategy targeting histone modification. In the past, Melanie has conducted DNA sequence analysis of genes from the duckweed plant Landoltia punctata and looked at how these genes compare to those found in other species by comparing Landoltia punctata sequences, as can be found as NCBI Submission - GenBank: JZ984807.1.

            Due to her love for working with others, Melanie has held roles working as a laboratory assistant for both general and organic chemistry. In the past, she has worked as a political canvasser to advocate for younger people to vote and in health care insurance as a compliance accounts specialist. Through these experiences, Melanie has learned clear and effective communication as well as strengthened her problem-solving and customer service skills. Post graduation, Melanie plans to pursue her MD/PhD with a focus on reproductive biology and women’s health.

Mentored by Dr. Suzuki