Lauren Adcock

updated on 07/18/24

Sandipan Datta

Lili Salinas

Claire Montgomery

Alexey Tomilov

Elena Dedkova

Ariana Banerjee

Maria Lo Tufo is a first-year PhD student in the Pharmacology and Toxicology program. Her current research focuses on the application of Shc inhibitors to reduce brain inflammation, an area that holds significant potential for advancing treatments for neuroinflammatory conditions.

She earned her Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from the University of Pisa in Italy. Her thesis, titled “Synthesis and Computational Studies for the Development of New Potential Inhibitors of ERp57 Protein,” explored innovative approaches in drug development and computational chemistry.

She was born and raised in the picturesque town of Lucca, located in the beautiful region of Tuscany, Italy, where her family still resides. Outside of her academic pursuits, She enjoys boxing as it helps her stay fit and relieve stress. The discipline and focus required in boxing complement her dedication to research. Additionally, She loves going to the movie theatre to watch the latest releases.

Giancarlo Sagastume

Garrett Cox

Chase Garcia

Director: G.A. Cortopassi

Professor of Molecular Biosciences

Maria Lo Tufo

Harshini Anand

Joy Jiang

Claire has been with the Cortopassi lab for 6 years functioning as the Animal Colony Manager in addition to helping manage day-to-day lab function, purchasing, and trainings.
Claire is involved in many projects spanning from Friedreich’s ataxia to Alzheimer’s disease, with extensive expertise in rodent behavioral testing, specialized dissections, and in vivo experimental design. Additionally, she is involved in wet lab analysis of both cell and tissue samples to identify inflammatory outcomes of known (e.g. LPS-induced) or unidentified toxins (such as QACs). She has most enjoyed her time working on orphan mitochondrial diseases such as Friedreich’s ataxia or Leigh Syndrome using their mouse models. 
Claire enjoys attending sporting events, especially soccer and baseball, as well as concerts of all types. She often spends her downtime working on fabric crafts, such as knitting or cross-stitch. 

Harshini is a graduate student in the Pharmacology and Toxicology graduate group. Her current research is focused on how the inhibition of mTORC1 can lead to decreased activation of pro-inflammatory microglia.
Originally from Bangalore, India, she obtained a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences. During her undergraduate degree and post-graduation, she worked on projects primarily involving computational chemistry.
Outside of work, she enjoys going on long walks, cooking while jamming to her favorite music, and playing with her cat.

Garrett is a undergraduate student studying Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior. He is the mouse husbandry expert and our assistant colony manager, as He mainly works in Meyer hall with the colony. 
His interests includes traveling, hiking, and trying out new technology.