My name is Vanessa Cota (she/her) and I am originally from the Bay Area, California. I began my scientific journey at the City College of San Francisco, a community college with an excellent group of professors in the STEM fields. I went on to pursue a Masters in Science at San Francisco State University and did my thesis research in the lab of Dr. Diana Chu. I then became interested in aging research and joined the Murphy Lab at Princeton University. In the Murphy Lab I am working on the problem of female reproductive decline using C. elegans as a model. We seek to use longevity models to uncover novel mechanisms that may slow reproductive decline.  

My outside interests include: cooking (and eating), exploring (road trips!), hiking (on both nature trails and city streets), and hanging out with my Pitbull rescue pup (she’s the sweetest).