Dr. Soyal obtained her PhD in Genetics from a joint program between the National Institute of Health and the George Washington University. Her thesis focused on the role of the transcription factor Figla in the development of the ovary. She defined the function of this factor in primordial follicle development by deleting the gene in mice. She used the acquired skills during a post-doctoral fellowship (2001-2002) at Baylor College of Medicine to create three independent mouse models to examine the role of the progesterone receptor in mammary gland development. In 2003, Dr. Soyal moved to Salzburg, Austria, to study the role of the PGC-1alpha coactivator in human metabolism. She discovered several new brain-specific isoforms of PGC-1alpha and showed that their regulatory gene region was associated with Huntington’ disease. Her current focus is to define the function of these isoforms in brain and whether they play a role in Parkinson’s disease.