PhD Students

dc1475@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests: Ion Channels, Neuropharmacology, Electrophysiology. I am intrigued to apply
electrophysiology and learn distinct assays to investigate specific mechanisms of action that could allow the possibility to create novel therapeutic treatments for neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Epilepsy.

Education:

Southern Utah University, B.S. Biology, 2021

Northeastern University, M.S. Pharmacology, 2023

Prior Research: At Northeastern University, I worked in the laboratory of Dr. Diomedes Logothetis on the mechanism by which Protein Kinase C alpha modulates the G protein gated potassium channel in the heart using Two-Electrode voltage clamp technique. I participated in Dr. Lara Milane Pharmaceutical Sciences Laboratory to evaluate treatment efficacy to Breast Cancer Cell Line with the application of Rhodamine and Gold nanoparticles with Verapamil. I worked at Brigham and Women’s Hospital under Dr. Jorge Rodriguez to conduct primary qualitative data collection with end users to define the patient perspectives of telemedicine use with a focus on video visits. The work focuses on identifying the facilitators and barriers to\ telemedicine, specifically video visits for patients with diabetes.

Rotations:

Dr. Tinatin Brelidze

Dr. Gerard Ahern

ag1763@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests: I’m fascinated by the level of complexity that underlies information flow in the brain. There are so many interconnected mechanisms that control everything in the brain from the regulation of neurotransmitter release across each synapse to complex feedback systems across multiple brain regions. The importance of these mechanisms becomes apparent when injury or disease alters regular function in the brain.

Education:

University of Maryland, B.S. Biological Sciences, 2018

Georgetown University, M.S. Physiology and Biophysics, 2023

Prior Research: My most significant research experience was with Dr. Forcelli and Dr. Malkova at Georgetown University, where I had the opportunity to contribute to three research projects:
● A study exploring the effects of anti-seizure drugs on neonatal development following hypoxia-induced seizures,
● A study utilizing optogenetics to modulate seizure circuits in rodents, and
● A study exploring how modulation of brain structures in non-human primates (NHPs) can
affect anxiety and social behaviors.
Before this, I worked in Dr. Albert Fornace’s lab at Georgetown University during summer 2016,
researching the effects of heavy ion radiation on tumorigenesis in mice. In 2017 I worked in Dr.
Sougata Roy’s lab at the University of Maryland, studying the role of paracrine signaling during early development in drosophila.

Rotations:

Dr. Alexey Ostroumov

aih20@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests: In collaboration with disease-oriented biomedical research investigators, I am excited to aid in discovering and optimizing novel efficacious drugs for unmet neurodegenerative diseases.

Education:

Western Kentucky University, B.S. Chemistry, 2019

Georgetown University, M.S. Pharmacology, 2022

Prior Research:

While working in a medical laboratory during the height of the COVID pandemic, I witnessed how drastically the development of the vaccine improved the health of the population on a massive scale, inspiring me to pursue a career in laboratory work as well. With this newfound passion along with my own personal history with medication, I applied for the Master’s in Pharmacology program at
Georgetown University. After seeing the various research topics ongoing and discussing these with the professors who lead them, I decided to study under Dr. Kenneth Kellar in his lab to examine age-related decline in neurotransmission and cognitive function. The bulk of my personal research in this lab concentrated on conducting in-vitro radiolabeled neurotransmitter release assays, specifically involving dopamine and norepinephrine. We found that there is a significant decrease in neurotransmitter release in old rats versus young rats as well as region-specific differences in neurotransmitter systems as animals age. Furthermore, we found that NBQX, an AMPA receptor antagonist, did not inhibit neurotransmitter release while CPP, an NMDA receptor antagonist, significantly decreased the release, confirming that NMDA receptors mediate this process. I thus aimed to quantify NMDA receptor subunit expression across ages using western blots and found a significant decrease in density of GluN2 subunits and no significant decrease in GluN1 subunits. Under the supervision of PhD candidates in the lab, I assisted in radioligand binding assays to further assess changes in receptor levels across brain regions. At the conclusion of the academic year, I presented my findings during the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology Master’s Poster Presentation and won second place for my efforts.
Following this high-quality experience in biochemical and reduced approaches, I sought
out a broader scope of research practices and more opportunities for exposure to in-vivo
models. I accepted a research technician position in Patrick Forcelli’s lab where I am
contributing to research examining cellular senescence in epileptogenesis and cognitive decline.
I have gained diverse experience in research practices, ranging from animal colony
maintenance to histopathology and microscopy to drug treatment and behavioral testing. Thus
far, the research demonstrates that treatment with senolytic drugs correlates with significant
improvement in spatial memory and reduction in seizure burden. As I accrue more research
experience during this project, I have grown confident in my abilities to independently conduct
tests with little to no guidance, and understanding what results entail.

Rotations:

Dr. Nady Golestaneh

Dr. Ludise Malkova

nmk62@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests: Blood-brain barrier, drug delivery, translational science, neuropharmacology.

Education:

Santa Clara University, B.S. Biomolecular Engineering, 2023

Prior Research: Prior to entering the Georgetown NIH graduate partnership program, Noah worked as a translational medicine researcher at BridgeBio Pharmaceuticals. He studied the mechanism of infigratinib, a FGFR1-3 inhibitor, to treat achondroplasia. Noah also worked on creating and automating a platform for allosteric drug discovery using anisotropic THz microscopy at LongWave Photonics. In his undergraduate studies Noah researched in Dr. Bill Lu’s lab, designing and testing an exosome-based scavenger for aberrant brain proteins.

Rotations:

Dr. SadhanaJackson

sms568@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests:

I am interested in research at the intersection of signal transduction and neuroscience: the physical
environment–of a neuron or animal–can initiate signaling that affects perception and behavior. Therefore, I am particularly fascinated by pharmacodynamics, especially in the brain. In addition, I am still interested in the molecular signaling pathways within the neurocircuitry of reward behaviors, particularly in substance abuse and psychiatric disorders. I also hope to be trained in electrophysiology experiments, complementing my previous experience.

Education:

University of Maryland: Baltimore Country, B.S. Biological Sciences, Psychology, 2012

Washington University in St. Louis, M.A. Biomedical Sciences, 2018

Prior Research:

My previous training has been Interdisciplinary. My undergraduate research experience included psychology experiments and approaches in biology and chemistry. In graduate school, I studied nociceptin opioid receptor (NOP) signal transduction and its role in motivated behaviors. My projects included defining the arrestin signaling pathway and functional selectivity of NOP, imaging endogenous NOP regulation and signaling in neural circuits involved in reward behaviors, and determining the role of NOP agonism in natural reward and drug-seeking behaviors. We used a
combination of cellular/molecular, biochemical, behavioral, viral, genetic, and imaging approaches.

Rotations:

Dr. Gerard Ahern

Dr. Kathy Sandberg

kt774@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests:

Education:

Carleton College, B.A. Psychology, 2021

Prior Research:

Since November 2021, I’ve been a research assistant in Dr. Nady Golestaneh’s lab, studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying Age Related Macular Degeneration in transgenic rodent models and human retinal pigment epithelium cell lines. Here, I have gained significant experiences with essential molecular biology techniques, cell culturing, and transgenic mouse models.

In my fourth year of undergraduate at Carleton College, I was a research assistant at the
Neuroimmunology & Neurotoxicology Lab, studying the neurodevelopmentally- and cognitively-detrimental effects of chronic low-level lead exposure through drinking water in rodent
models. The primary tissues of interest were the CNS-draining lymphatic vasculature located in the
dura mater meninges as well as neuroinflammation in the hippocampus. Here, I received my first
exposure to crucial techniques like immunohistochemistry and ELISA.
Additionally, I have worked as a lab assistant at the Carleton College Primate Cognition Lab between Late 2019-Early 2020 (cut short due to COVID), working with aging cotton-top tamarins as models for Alzheimer’s Disease. Lastly, I have gained clinical research experience in 2018 in the field of ophthalmology.

Rotations:

Dr. Ian Gallicano

Dr. Gerard Ahern

fa485@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests:

Education:

King Saud University, B.Pharm., Pharmacy, 2013

Auburn University, M.S. Pharmacology, 2020

Prior Research: Investigating the dopaminergic neurotoxicity of kainic acid. Fada’s Research interests include Neurodegeneration, Parkinson’s Disease, and Oxidative Stress.

Rotations:

Dr. Ken Kellar

Dr. Anton Wellstein

Dr. Bill Rebeck

rb1717@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests: Investigating specific mechanisms of action for drug compounds on the cellular pathway level and understanding how their effects can lead to clinical pharmacology treatment.

Education:
University of Maryland, B.S., Biochemistry, 2020

Prior Research: 

Rotations:

Dr. Ludise Malkova

Dr. Anna Riegel

lar164@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-Thesis

Research Interests: Neurodegeneration, aging, neuropharmacology, protein aggregation

Education:
North Carolina State University, B.S., Biological Sciences – Molecular, Cellular, Developmental, 2022

Prior Research: 

In Dr. Kurt Marsden’s lab, I studied how environmental cyanotoxins interact in vivo to modulate neurodegeneration, more specifically amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in larval zebrafish. By studying protein dysregulation following cyanotoxin exposure using contemporary shotgun proteomics, I believe that this work contributed to identifying molecular changes related to ALS. I conducted a manual behavior analysis to understand how early-life exposure to cyanotoxins affects zebrafish. I also studied how cyfip2 regulates the innate startle threshold in zebrafish that will help us understand how startle dysfunction likely manifests in disorders such as autism and anxiety. In my summer internship at Columbia University, I evaluated the retina as a neurovascular and neurodegenerative model. I developed an independent project where I focused on the effect of anti-VEGF treatments on caspase-9 expression in post-mortem human retinas.

Rotations:

Dr. Tingting Wang

Dr. Rebekah Evans

Dr. Kathy Sandberg

rs2194@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests: Neuropharmacology, Electrophysiology, Synaptic plasticity, Translational science

Education:

University of Medical Sciences of Havana (UCMH), MD, 2012

University at Buffalo, MS, Pharmacology and Toxicology, 2022

Prior Research: 

While at the University at Buffalo, working under Dr. Haj-Dahmane, my project focused on the study of endocannabinoid signaling mediated synaptic plasticity in reward processing circuits.

Rotations:

Dr. Daniel Pak

Dr. Patrick Forcelli

Dr. Ken Kellar

cat151@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests: Neuropharmacology, Neurodegeneration, Signal Transduction

Education:

University of California, Davis, B.S., Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, 2022

Prior Research: 

At the University of California, Davis, I worked in Dr. Ricardo Maselli’s lab studying an AAV9-mediated gene therapy on mice with Choline Acetyltransferase deficiencies, which is one possible cause for presynaptic Congenital Myasthenic Syndromes.

Rotations:
Dr. Tinatin Brelidze

Dr. Gerard Ahern

Dr. Sreejith Nair

cjt87@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests:

Education:

Miami University, B.A., Psychology & Journalism – biopsychology, 2017

Chicago School of Professional Psychology, M.A., Psychopharmacology, 2021

Prior Research: 

As a post-baccalaureate research fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in the Section on Behavioral Neuroscience under Dr. Yogita Chudasama, where she investigates the role of dopaminergic and adrenergic receptors in decision-making and impulsivity.

Rotations:
Dr. Alexey Ostroumov

Dr. Ludise Malkova

Dr. Patrick Forcelli

mb2318@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: I study dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, a population known to degenerate in Parkinson’s disease, primarily utilizing ex vivo patch clamp electrophysiology, calcium imaging, and immunohistochemistry.

Advisors: Dr. Rebekah Evans and Dr. Kathleen Maguire-Zeiss

Research Interests: Neurodegeneration, Neuropharmacology, Synaptic Plasticity

Education:
Northeastern University, B.S., Behavioral Neuroscience, 2014
Georgetown University, M.S., Pharmacology, 2019

Prior Research: Before entering the PhD program at Georgetown, I worked for Seracare Life Sciences in their Product Development and Custom Manufacturing teams, producing custom control and reference materials for diagnostic testing. While completing my Master’s degree at Georgetown, I worked in the laboratory of Dr. Dan Pak developing new GFP and Luciferase-based assays to be used in understanding the roles of Alzheimer’s Disease risk factors APP and tau. As an undergraduate, I worked at Harvard Medical School in the lab of Dr. David VanVactor studying the role of microRNA’s in neuromuscular development in Drosophila melanogaster. I also worked in the Laboratory for Neurogenomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital under Dr. Clemens Scherzer analyzing samples for the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Biomarker Study.

Rotations:
Dr. Rebekah Evans
Dr. Tingting Wang

jhb109@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: 

I study the Ether-a-go-go (EAG) potassium channel, which, when impaired, has been
linked to neurological disorders and cancer. Utilizing cell culture experiments,
electrophysiology, and zebrafish xenografts, I am characterizing the effect of the newly
identified ligands on the EAG channel, as well as its clinical relevance as a potential
therapeutic in cancer treatment.

Advisor: Dr. Tinatin Brelidze

Prior Research: After graduating from the University of Freiburg in Germany, I worked in the Laboratory of Neurogenetics as a Post-Baccalaureate Fellow at the NIH. Here, I studied genetic
risk factors for Parkinson’s Disease using genotyping experiments and GWAS.

Education: Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, B.Sc., Pharmaceutical Science, 2019

Rotations:
Dr. Mark Burns
Dr. Anton Wellstein
Dr. Kathleen Maguire-Zeiss
Dr. Tinatin Brelidze

yc835@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests: Synaptic plasticity, Alzheimer’s Disease, Spinocerebellar Ataxia

Education:
University of Maryland, B.S. Physiology and Neurobiology, 2015; University of Maryland, M.Ed. Secondary Science Education, 2017; Georgetown University, M.S. Pharmacology, 2020

Prior Research: Nanjing Medical University, under Dr. Wentao Liu, investigating molecular pathways of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN).

Rotations:
Dr. Tingting Wang
Dr. Gerard Ahern
Dr. Alexey Ostroumov

gjg31@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Education:
Georgetown University, B.S. in Neurobiology (2017), M.S. in Pharmacology (2017)

Rotations:
Dr. Mark Burns
Dr. Susan Amara

ksh89@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests: Depression, Anxiety, Psychiatric drugs, Neuropharmacology

Education:
Virginia Commonwealth University. B.S. in Biology (2017), B.S. in Psychology (2017)

Prior Research: At the Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, I primarily worked in the Amstadter Lab investigating the role of personality and combat history on alcohol use in military veterans. After graduation, I worked at PPD, a pharmaceutical CRO, as both an Assistant Scientist in the Immunochemistry department and a Quality Assurance auditor in the Vaccine Sciences department.

Rotations:
Dr. Ken Kellar
Dr. Katherine Conant

jw1936@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Research Interests: Electrophysiology, Neuropharmacology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Neural Plasticity, Development

Education:
New York University, B.S. Neural Science, 2020

Prior Research: Dr. Regina Sullivan, Dr. Maya Opendak, Dr. Kathryn Humphreys. In the Sullivan lab at NYU, under the mentorship of Dr. Sullivan and Dr. Opendak, I researched the neurobiology of early life attachment and the enduring effects of early life abuse and trauma in neurobehavioral functioning. In the SEA lab at Vanderbilt University, under the mentorship of Dr. Humphreys, I looked at the associations between prenatal maternal cortisol, a stress hormone, on stress susceptible brain regions postnatally. 

Rotations:
Dr. Alexey Ostroumov
Dr. Italo Mocchetti

yma15@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Education:
Petra University (Jordan), BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2012; Wright State University, MS in Pharmacology and Toxicology, 2015

Rotations:
Dr. Gerard Ahern
Dr. Kenneth Kellar
Dr. Tingting Wang

js4774@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: Pre-thesis

Education:
CUNY Hunter College, BS in Biomedical Science, 2019

Rotations:
Dr. G. William Rebeck
Dr. Italo Mocchetti
Dr. Tingting Wang

ss3984@georgetown.edu

Thesis Title: The effect of Amphetamine in age-associated cognitive decline.
Advisor: Dr. Ken Kellar

Thesis Research: I use behavior, cellular and molecular biology to investigate the dysfunction of neuronal pathways in the aged brain and the potential benefits of pharmacological interventions on cognition.

Research Interests: Neurodegeneration, Neuropharmacology, Behavioral neuroscience, Neuronal pathways

Education:
University of Naples – Federico II, PharmD, 2016

Prior Research: The functional roles of microglia cells within the mesolimbic dopamine system during the course of the normal aging; Investigation on the aging-related increases in microglial density and lipofuscin as benign/protective or neurotoxic factors; Investigation on the influence of the glycoprotein 120 on dendritic spine formation in the striatum of a mouse model with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder.

Rotations:
Dr. Daniel Pak
Dr. Stefano Vicini
Dr. Tingting Wang
Dr. Kenneth Kellar

ejw68@georgetown.edu

Thesis Research: I use behavioral and molecular techniques to understand the acute and chronic outcomes of anti-seizure drugs on brain development
Advisor: Dr. Patrick Forcelli

Research Interests:
neurodegeneration, neurotoxicity, neuroinflammation, neuropharmacology

Education:
Morehouse College, B.S. in Biology, 2017

Prior Research: Eric graduated from Morehouse College with a B.S. in Biology in 2017. During his undergraduate matriculation he joined the lab of Dr. Kennie Shepherd where he studied the effects of fumaric acid (FA) on cell induced toxicity and dopaminergic neurodegeneration in a Parkinson’s Disease mouse model. Following graduation, Eric participated in the Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) at the University of South Carolina where he worked under the supervision of Dr. Marlene Wilson. His project focused on using a combination of molecular techniques to characterize acetylcholinesterase (ACHE) levels in subjects previously tested for fear extinction. Eric started his PhD at Georgetown University in 2018 and has several ongoing projects. He is currently examining the toxicity profiles of next-generation anti-seizure medications (ASMs) on brain development, and his doctoral thesis investigates the underlying mechanisms of how early life inflammation influences anti-seizure medication associated toxicities.

Rotations:
Dr. Gerard Ahern
Dr. Tingting Wang
Dr. Patrick Forcelli