Cynthia Ramírez

Cynthia is a Masters Student in the Devlin Lab. She graduated from the University of Guadalajara in Mexico with a Bachelor Degree in Nutrition with distinction.​

In Canada, more than 30,000 premature babies are born each year. These babies often require hospitalization where they can undergo up to 15 painful procedures every day and may experience between 300-400 procedures before they go home. Oral sucrose is the non-pharmacological standard of care for pain relief from minor procedures like blood tests or heel lance. Throughout hospitalization, babies can be exposed to high and cumulative doses of sucrose. However, little is known about the metabolic effects of neonatal sucrose treatment. The aim of Cynthia's research is to determine the long-term metabolic effects of neonatal treatment using a mouse model.​