Leadership

Mark grew up in southern New Jersey and received his bachelor’s degree from Williams College, where he studied biology and neuroscience.  He is currently a PhD student at Harvard Medical School in the lab of Dr. David Ginty, where he studies neural circuits underlying the sense of touch.  Having benefited from influential mentors throughout his education in science, Mark is particularly passionate about mentorship and outreach.

Jamilla is a fourth year graduate student in the de Bivort Lab at Harvard University and is currently an Editor-in-Chief at JEI. She started at JEI as an editor and has worked for the journal for since 2014. Her research interests are behavioral genetics and evolutionary biology.

Olivia is a PhD student in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department at Harvard. She works in the lab of Catherine Dulac, studying epigenetics and neurobiology. Specifically, her research visualizes imprinted gene expression in neurons, to study how genes inherited from the mother can contribute differently to neural development than those from the father. Since elementary school, Olivia had a love for books about animals and science fairs, which has grown into a passion for science writing and student mentorship.

Michael grew up in Minneapolis and received a bachelor's degree in biology from Arizona State University, where he first discovered his passion for scientific research while studying leaf-cutter ant ecology and behavior. After graduating, he spent two years in a lab in Philadelphia investigating the genetic basis of human taste preferences. Currently he is a PhD student at Harvard Medical School in the lab of Dr. Rachel Wilson, studying how sensory information is encoded and processed by neural circuits.

Haneui grew up in South Korea and came to the United States to study Neuroscience at Amherst College. Publishing at a journal like JEI is an experience that Haneui would have loved to have when she was in middle or high school. So she feels enthusiastic about helping to create such an experience for young scientists and introducing them to the joys of investigating a scientific question, no matter how simple. Currently Haneui is pursuing a PhD in Molecular Cellular Biology at Harvard University, studying the molecular basis of critical period plasticity in the brain.

Qiyu is a fourth-year graduate student in Program of Neuroscience at Harvard University conducting thesis research in Dr. David Ginty's lab. He is interested in using electron microscopy to understand the synaptic connectivity in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Before studying at Harvard he graduated from Brandeis University in 2014, where he worked in Dr. Sacha Nelson's lab on barrel cortex development. He is excited in helping JEI in reforming its financial infrastructures and contributing to its fundraising efforts.

Nico grew up in Germany and moved to Grand Rapids, MI when he was 8 years old. From there, he completed his undergraduate degrees in physics, astrophysics, and cellular & molecular biology at the University of Michigan in 2014. At Michigan, Nico got very involved in outreach for kids of all ages. Nico is currently a PhD candidate in the D’Souza lab studying the structure-function relationship of programmed ribosomal readthrough. Outside of lab, he enjoys traveling to new places.

Michelle is graduate student within the Program in Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. Her thesis work uses genomics, imaging, and molecular genetics to understand how olivocochlear neurons in the inner ear affect the development and function of auditory circuitry.

Sonia is a graduate student with the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) program at Harvard Medical School. She completed her undergraduate training in Molecular Biology at the University of California, San Diego. Sonia performs her thesis work in the Christopher A. Walsh lab at Boston Children's Hospital, where she studies somatic mutations in normal brain development, specifically in the human cerebral cortex.