Camilo Faust Akl
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Jessica received her B.A from Boston University where she majored in Neuroscience and performed research in the laboratory of Dr. Cynthia Lemere. After graduating, she joined Dr. Quintana’s lab as a technical research associate, where she contributed to multiple projects focused on identifying factors which contribute to the regulation of the adaptive immune system in the context of autoimmune diseases like Multiple Sclerosis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. She then went on to pursue her PhD in Immunology at the Boston University School of Medicine, where she studied in the laboratory of Dr. David Sherr. There she identified roles for the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in controlling immune mechanisms which are critical for both cancer and autoimmunity. She re-joined Dr. Quintana’s lab in 2021 as a postdoctoral research fellow and is currently focused on identifying novel immune mechanisms which drive the pathogenesis of inflammatory and neuroinflammatory diseases. In her free time, she enjoys camping, hiking, and spending time with her family and dogs.
Hong-Gyun received his Bachelor’s Degree in Life Science in 2013 from Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea. Following his great interest in immunology, he worked in the lab of Dr. Je-Min Choi, identifying the role of antigen-independent CD4 T cells in Multiple Sclerosis. Hong-Gyun received his Ph.D. in 2019, and further joined the Quintana Lab in 2021, shifting focus toward neuroimmunology. He is now currently interested in understanding how microbial metabolites control astrocyte activation in CNS inflammation.
Tomer completed his B.Sc. (2013) and M.Sc. (2014) degrees in Neuroscience at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. He then completed his Ph.D. (2021) in the lab of Prof. Eitan Okun, studying multiple aspects of the immune response in Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome. In his studies, Tomer assessed the efficacy of DNA-based immunotherapeutic approaches for targeting Amyloid-β in preclinical mouse models. Additionally, he developed several machine-learning based methods for unbiased quantification of spatial learning strategies in rodent cognitive testing. Tomer joined the Quintana lab in 2022 as a Postdoctoral Fellow to study cell-cell communication in Alzheimer’s disease. He is a recipient of the 2018 Clore Israel Foundation Scholarship, the 2022 Annette Karmiloff-Smith and Michael Harpold Trisomy-21 Thesis award, and the 2022 EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship.
cmanganelipolonio@bwh.harvard.edu
Carolina Polonio received her Master’s degree (2017) from the University of Sao Paulo – Brazil investigating the immunoregulatory potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the EAE. She also received her Ph.D degree (2022) from the University of Sao Paulo – Brazil with her work on the dynamics of microRNAs in astrocytes and neuronal precursor cells during fetal neuropathology of ZIKV, during which spent she spent a year in Quintana Lab (2020). Following her interest in neuroimmunology, she joined the Quintana Lab in 2023 as Postdoctoral Fellow to study immunomodulatory mechanisms of dendritic cells and astrocytes during EAE and MS.
Joon-Hyuk received a Bachelor’s Degree in Life Science in 2016 from Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea, graduating Summa Cum Laude. He was awarded his Ph.D. Degree in Neuroscience in 2022 under the guidance of Dr. Won-Suk Chung, studying the phagocytosis of astrocytes in the adult brain. Joon-Hyuk joined Dr. Quintana’s Lab in 2022 as a postdoctoral fellow with a strong interest in astrocyte subsets that influence neurological symptoms. Joon-Hyuk is currently a HFSP (Human Frontier Science Program) postdoctoral fellow. His research has been highlighted by Agarwal award (KAIST), Da-Han award (KBRI), SHIMADZU award (KSBMB), 2 commendations from the Korean government and a Thesis Award from the Korean Academy of Science. In his free time, Joon-Hyuk enjoys watching Korean TV shows with his wife and playing soccer.
Michael received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, in Molecular Biotechnology. He completed his Ph.D. in 2021 in the lab of Michael Platten at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, where he studied novel approaches of neoantigen-specific immunotherapy as well as mechanisms driving dysfunctional T cell responses in brain tumors. Michael is a Leopoldina Research Fellow and joined the Quintana lab in 2023. He now focuses on cell-cell interactions that regulate immune responses in both MS and glioblastoma.
Camilo is a half-German student from Venezuela with an interest for immunotherapeutic approaches to combat solid tumors. After completing his B.S. in Biotechnology at the Technical University of Berlin, he received a Master’s Degree in Immunology at Harvard Medical School and completed his thesis research at the Quintana Lab. As a PhD student, he is investigating immunological roles of glioblastoma-associated astrocytes by use of single-cell technologies. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, traveling, photography, concerts and sports.
Joseph received his B.S. from the University of Cincinnati where he studied both Neurobiology and Biomedical Studies. While there, he also conducted animal behavior research in the lab of Charles Vorhees where he focused on the effect of environmental toxins on transgenerational behavioral deficits. He gained an interest in Immunology while working as a technician in Roni Nowarski’s lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he focused on the role of the liver endothelium in shaping Kupffer cell responses in sepsis. He joined the Immunology PhD program at Harvard Medical School in 2020 and subsequently the Quintana Lab in 2021 where he focuses on the role of innate immune cytokines in EAE.
Gavin received a BS in Biochemistry and a BA in Chemistry at the University of Rochester. While there, he worked with Mark Noble studying the impact of genetic and infectious factors on lysosomal function within demyelinating disease. Following graduation, he worked on CRISPR/Cas9 and AAV gene therapy treatments for orphan diseases at Intellia Therapeutics and Pfizer Rare Disease respectively. He then returned to the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry to start an MD/PhD. Gavin joined the Quintana Lab in 2021 to complete the PhD portion of his degree where he will focus on modulating pathogenic activities of astrocytes and microglia in Parkinson’s Disease in collaboration with Ania Majewska from the University of Rochester. Outside of research, you can find him running along the Charles River, cooking, and playing trumpet in an orchestra.
Lena Srun received her B.A. from Wellesley College, where she studied Neuroscience and Economics. While she was there, she conducted research on glutamate transporters in C. elegans under the guidance of Dr. Deborah Bauer. She joined the lab in late 2021 and is a Quintana lab triple threat- technician, lab manager, and mascot. In her free time, she enjoys visiting museums, baking, learning new languages, and crocheting.
Zhaorong works in the Quintana Lab as a bioinformatician and received his M.S. in Bioinformatics from Boston University and his B.S. in Biology and Applied Mathematics from Stony Brook University. He is currently working on his PhD at Boston University. In his free time, he likes to lift, try new foods, and spend time with his wife and puppy.
Brian Andersen is an Instructor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a senior member of the Quintana lab. Brian completed the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) at the University of Minnesota, where he earned his PhD in Neuroscience under the mentorship of Drs. John Ohlfest and Michael Olin. He then completed internship and neurology residency at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, NY. He completed neuro-oncology fellowship at MGH/Dana-Farber/BWH 2019-2022. In the Quintana lab Brian studies the biology of astrocytes and cellular interactions in the glioblastoma microenvironment. Brian is a board certified, UCNS-accredited neurologist and neuro-oncologist; he treats patients with brain tumors and neurologic complications of cancer part-time at the nearby VA Medical Center, Boston.
jeye@mgb.org
Jessica Ye is a neurology resident (soon to be neuro-immunology fellow) at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a post-doctoral fellow in the Quintana lab. Jessica received her B.A. from Cornell University where she double majored in Chemistry and Biology. She then attended medical school at Yale University as a part of the NIH Medical Scientist Training Program, earning her M.D. and Ph.D in 2020. She performed her Ph.D. research with Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov in the Yale Department of Immunology, during which she studied the bidirectional interactions of organismal metabolism with innate immunity and inflammation. Jessica joined the Quintana lab in 2023 where she hopes to combine her scientific and clinical expertise to elucidate novel neuroimmune interactions contributing to the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis and related disorders, focusing currently on astrocyte-OPC interactions. Jessica is the recipient of an NIH F30 grant and NIH R25 grant supplement. In her free time she enjoys nature walks, indoor plants, finding Boston's best boba, and games with friends.