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 Master's 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 in 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 and in response to stroke. Now she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience, Neurosurgery and the College of Life Sciences at Thomas Jefferson University. Her main goal 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, with hopefully new and creative holiday lab door decorations to come this year! Outside of the lab she loves going to concerts , trying new restaurants around the city, and thrifting! 

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

Pronouns: She/her.

About: Gabriela is originally from Orlando, Florida, but her family is Polish. She spent a significant portion of her childhood in Poland. To be closer to her family she moved to England to pursue her B.S. in Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience at Royal Holloway, University of London. After completing her bachelor's degree, she came to Philadelphia where she completed a post-baccalaureate program at the University of Pennsylvania while working in clinical research. She shifted towards translational research at CHOP, where she worked in fetal surgery research studying congenital diaphragmatic hernia and its effect on neurodevelopment under the patronage of Dr. Emily A. Partridge while completing her master’s degree at Georgetown University. Outside of the lab, she enjoys nature, spending time with her pets, and traveling the world.

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.