Sonja Smith Email & Phone Number

Iowa City, Ia, Us

Iowa City-Cedar Rapids Area

Explain the heritage and history of the luxury brand products for clients that MKTG represents, specifically for Diageo brands. Work across critical areas of customer activation, advocacy, consumer activation, and capabilities of brand knowledge. Implement brand activations and tastings while creating brand awareness at scale in a consultative way by closely working with the key account managers and the wholesaler/retail partners of the outlets. Write after-event reports detailing demographics of consumers and consumer interactions, comments, and needs.

Iowa City, Iowa, United States

Offering bespoke professional training, adult use cannabis license application assistance, and compliance management services in the biomedical research and cannabis industries.

Iowa City, Iowa

A division of Bogart-Smith Consultancy: providing cannabis industry staff training, compliance management, and license application assistance pertinent to cannabis industries in Illinois, Colorado, and beyond.

Orthopaedics And Rehabilitation

Histologist and Molecular Biology Research Specialist for Cell Bio Research Lab; graduate student instructor regarding histology techniques.

Iowa City, Iowa

Immunology and arthritis research

◆ Direct and oversee all operations of the lab, including assisting with maintenance of shared Pediatrics core equipment. Develop, implement, and ensure compliance with standard operating procedures and federal and state regulations regarding safe lab practices. Perform site specific risk assessment, identify necessary PPE, teach the safe execution of experiments, and oversee proper chemical and hazardous waste management and disposal.◆ Perform managerial and financial review. Review and approve laboratory operational expenditures. Monitor expenses from grants and internal funding sources. Keep organized and accurate accounting records. Reconcile TDRs monthly, assure accuracy of expense reports, adhere to budgets by coordinating with accounting staff.◆ Consult with external academic institutions and critically evaluate peer-reviewed journals for the development of new research and training techniques. Determine, understand, and educate lab personnel on recent advances in science for the best suited cutting-edge equipment, protocols, and safety training for the lab◆ Manage the performance of staff and assure staff and post-doctoral scholars are compliant with UIowa, EHS, and IACUC policies and procedures.◆ Assist with grant preparation to secure funding for lab activities.◆ Conduct complex in vivo and in vitro experiments in the field of immunology, focusing on the role of follistatin-­like1 protein (FSTL1) in osteoarthritis, chondrogenesis, and lung function. Develop, execute, and manage multiple complex research projects in collaboration with the PI (Dr. Hirsch) and PIs of other labs.◆ Develop and troubleshot protocols and hypotheses related to osteoarthritis experiments, immunology, virology, and the molecular mechanisms of FSTL1 function. Review literature related to the research being performed, develop and apply new theories based on findings.◆ Two publications in peer reviewed scientific journals.◆ Responsible for maintenance of mouse colonies.

University Of Iowa

Established and organized a new cardiac research laboratory with Professor Mohler. The Mohler Laboratory studied molecular involvement of ankyrin scaffolding proteins in fatal cardiac arrhythmia.Played an integral role in accounting, procuring laboratory supplies, breeding and genotyping, and ordering and maintaining equipment, including a confocal microscope and electrophysiology rig.Examined interactions between the IP3 receptor and ankyrinB proteins with yeast two-hybrid, in vitro transcription/translation, and binding experiments. Performed similar binding studies with the Kir6.2 potassium channel.Transfected and characterized a HEK293 cell line expressing the human Nav1.5 channel containing a Brugada mutation.Collaborated with Professor Mark Anderson's Laboratory in studies of CaMKII during cardiac hypertrophy.; Carver Center for Comparative Genomics

Pioneered a collaborative research project with the Malone Laboratory pertaining to meiotic recombination and the evolutionary conservation of meiosis among phylogenetically diverse species such as H. sapiens, M. musculus, G.. lamblia, C. albicans, and T. vaginalis using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism.Enhanced my computational biology skills and learned various bionformatics programs and techniques.

Contributed data, theories, and scientific methods from experiments that involved molecular biology techniques, yeast genetics, and immunofluorescence microscopy to a publication in the journal Eukaryotic Cell.Prepared data for grants, resulting in the NSF funding Dr. Malone's meiotic recombination studies in 2004 and 2005.Updated molecular biology protocols and designed new protocols.Educated undergraduate and graduate students in safe and efficient molecular biology techniques.Hired undergraduate laboratory assistants. Maintained and monitored laboratory equipment daily.Was the sole custodian of frozen collections containing 1500 transformed bacteria and over 3800 yeast strains.Ordered radionuclides, chemicals, reagents, equipment, and all other lab supplies. Reconciled the general ledger monthly.Helped with the maintenance of equipment in the Department of Biological sciences, and served as a liaison with Primary Investigators, Administrative Staff, Department Chair, Departmental Engineer, and Facilities Management Administration.

Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics

Department of Physiology and BiophysicsLearned and performed cell culture and microscopy techniques on human and rat kidney cellsDesigned the figures for experiments I completed involving calcium imaging in glomerular mesangial cells, the results of which were published in American Journal of Physiology- Renal Physiology.

Master Of Science, Molecular Physiology & Biophysics

Thesis: "Localization of P24 Integral Membrane Protein and its Various Truncations and Mutants" Research for thesis completed.

B.A, Biology With Biomedical

Full tuition scholarship and stipend in Department of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics