Position: Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor.

Pronouns: She/her/ella.

About: Elena is originally from Asturies (Spain) where she grew up and attended University of Oviedo to get her Licenciatura in Biology. She also spent a year studying in Aristotelous University of Thessaloniki (Greece) as an Erasmus student. She got her MS in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biomedicine in Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), and soon after, she moved to the UK to pursue her Ph.D.  under a Marie Curie ITN fellowship. She did her Ph.D. in Biochemistry with Dr. Jonathan Hanley at the University of Bristol (UK), where she studied region-specific AMPA receptor trafficking and GTPase activation in neurons under ischemic conditions. It was in 2014 when she arrived in San Diego (CA) to do her postdoc with Dr. Nicola Allen at the Salk Institute. There, she focused on the study of astrocytic regulation of synaptic plasticity during development. Now she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Thomas Jefferson University. The main goal of the lab is to harness the potential of astrocytes to regulate plasticity in injury and disease to improve prevention and functional recovery. Outside the lab, she likes playing guitar and ukulele, going to punk-rock shows, watching bad horror movies, and planning her next trip to Asturies.

Position: Ph.D. candidate (Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program, Neuroscience).

Pronouns: She/her.

About: Bridget grew up right outside of Philadelphia in the suburbs of Medford, New Jersey. She stayed in South Jersey to attend Rowan University and, in 2020, received her B.S. in Translational Biomedical Science. At Rowan, Bridget began her neuroscience research journey in Dr. Ileana Soto-Reye’s laboratory, where she investigated cerebellar postnatal microglia development impairment and neurodegeneration in Niemann-Pick disease type C. Bridget is currently a PhD Candidate in the Blanco-Suarez laboratory where she is investigating how astrocytes regulate region-specific changes in AMPAR subunit composition immediately after ischemic stroke, and how that relates to neuronal vulnerability to excitotoxicity. Bridget is the self-appointed party and décor coordinator of the lab. Outside of the lab, she loves going to concerts, trying new restaurants around the city, and thrifting! 

Position: Undergard researcher.

Pronouns: She/her.

About: Betti spent her childhood in New England before moving to the Philadelphia area for high school. She has just completed her second year at Penn State in the 7-year BS/MD program with Jefferson’s medical school, and is minoring in psychology. In the fall, she will continue working in the Decision Neuroscience Lab at Penn State, and she will study abroad at the University of Oxford in the spring. Outside of the lab and schoolwork, she likes to listen to music, paint landscapes, and take nature walks.

Position: Honorary Member. Official lab pet.

Pronouns: She/her.

About: Dookie has a Ph.D. in cuteness. She appeared in a couple of Blink 182 music videos and inspired the dog emoji 🐶 . She spends most of her time sleeping or getting through life with extremely high anxiety.  She's a very good girl.