Alexandra Sacco
| Alexandra Sacco | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 August 1993 Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America |
| 🏫 Education | Boston University, Boston, MA (BS) Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA (MS), Washington University, St. Louis, MO(PhD) |
| 💼 Occupation | |
Alexandra Sacco is an American anthropologist and primatologist. She specializes in gut microbiome research in primates. She has contributed much to the field, studying Saddleback and Emperor Tamarins in the Amazon Rainforest, and Red Colobus Monkeys in the Kibale National Park in Uganda.
Early Life and Research
Alexandra Sacco was born in Rhode Island to her parents, Thomas and Kimberly Sacco. At a young age, she showed a great passion for animals, volunteering with the ASPCA. Through her work with these organization, she had a strong desire to become a large-animal veterinarian. She attended Moses Brown High School, where she was offered a grant to travel to Laos and work with elephants, which bolstered her love for animals and strengthened her drive to pursue a career in biology. She attended Boston University, earning a Bachelor's in Biology. She then went on to earn her Master's in Biological Anthropology, publishing a thesis on her research, assessing health status in monkey using novel techniques in urinalysis and blood chemistry.[1]
Sacco's research is focused primarily on small primates, particularly Tamarins, Saki Monkeys, and Capuchins. Her research in the Amazon includes a study of detection of Neopterin in primate urine and its use as a detectable biomarker for potential primate disease and health markers due to low survival rates in some primate species during invasive testing. Her research found detectable levels across multiple platyrrhine species, highlighting its potential as a non-invasive biomarker, paving the way for future non-invasive primate research techniques.[2] She has also conducted a validation study for methods of quantifying a peptide biomarker in Capuchin monkeys which can be used to measure energy balance in New World Monkeys.[3]
Her doctoral research culminated in her dissertation focused once again on Emperor and Saddleback Tamarins, but focusing on gut microbial health and data collection techniques. She collected fecal samples from various communities covering multiple habitat ranges and, using DNA sequencing, determined primary diets, gut microbial makeup, and even communal roles, such as breeding/non-breeding or adolescent identifiers. Her research was able to determine plant and insect genera and individual gut-microbial species from fecal samples alone, making it novel research and marking potential for non-invasive research techniques in the future.
She currently lives in St. Louis, MO with her dog, Nala.
References
- ↑ Sacco, Alexandra. (2019). An Assessment of Individual Health Status of Sympatric Free-ranging Saguinus imperator and Leontocebus weddelli Using Neopterin, Urinalysis, and Blood Chemistry Analysis.
- ↑ Sacco, Alexandra J.; Mayhew, Jessica A.; Watsa, Mrinalini; Erkenswick, Gideon; Binder, April K. (2020). "Detection of neopterin in the urine of captive and wild platyrrhines". BMC Zoology. 5. doi:10.1186/s40850-020-00051-9. ISSN 2056-3132. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - ↑ Sacco, Alexandra J.; Granatosky, Michael C.; Laird, Myra F.; Milich, Krista M. (2021). "Validation of a method for quantifying urinary C-peptide in platyrrhine monkeys". General and Comparative Endocrinology. 300. doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2020.113644. PMID 33045233 Check
|pmid=value (help). Unknown parameter|article-number=ignored (help)
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