Arlotta Lab | HSCRB

Paola Arlotta, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator (PI)

Dr. Arlotta is interested in understanding the molecular laws that govern the birth, differentiation and assembly of the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that controls how we sense, move and think. She integrates developmental and evolutionary knowledge to investigate therapies for brain repair and for modeling neuropsychiatric disease.

Postdoctoral Fellows, Affiliates, and Visiting Scholars

Michael Borrett, Ph.D.

Michael Borrett obtained his PhD in neurodevelopment and stem cell biology at the University of Toronto. He currently studies human brain organoids in the context of autism spectrum disorder.

Leela Chakravarti Dilley, M.D., Ph.D.

Leela Chakravarti Dilley completed her MD/PhD at University of Pennsylvania studying cellular and circuit mechanisms underlying sleep during early development. She is a psychiatry resident at BWH and is interested in studying cortical organoids as a model for psychiatric disease.

Daniela Di Bella, Ph.D.

Postdoc Daniela Di Bella is a member of the Pew Latin American Fellows Program in the Biomedical Sciences.

Nuria Dominguez Iturza, Ph.D.

Nuria Dominguez-Iturza obtained her PhD in Neurosciences at the University of Leuven, investigating molecular mechanisms underlaying neurodevelopmental disorders.

Tyler Faits, Ph.D.

Tyler is a Computational Scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, having earned his PhD from Boston University. He uses single cell sequencing technologies to study neurodevelopment in mouse and organoid models.

Irene Faravelli, M.D., Ph.D.

Irene Faravelli completed her Medical Degree and Neurology residency at the University of Milan. She is interested in studying cortical organoids as a model for neurodevelopment and neurological diseases.

Daniel Gonzalez Bohorquez, Ph.D.

Daniel Gonzalez-Bohorquez obtained his PhD at the University of Zurich, studying metabolic imbalances in neural stem cells of both mice and human models of cortical development.

Massimo Gulisano, MD PhD

Dr. Gulisano is full professor of Experimental Biology at the University of Catania and is taking his sabbatical leave as a Visiting Scholar at the Arlotta Laboratory. Trained in Developmental Biology and Experimental Neurobiology, he is interested in deciphering the mechanisms of brain development using a multimodel and evolutionary approach from organoids to embryos and beyond.

Rahel Kastli, Ph.D.

Rahel Kastli completed her PhD at the University of Zurich, studying circuit formation of cortical interneurons. She is interested in using organoids to better understand neurodevelopmental disorders.

Marta Montero Crespo, Ph.D.

Marta Montero Crespo completed her PhD at the Cajal Institute, studying the synaptic organization of the human hippocampus and its alterations in Alzheimer’s disease. She is interested in understanding the ultrastructural features of human neurodevelopment.

Milagros Pereira Luppi, Ph.D.

Milagros Pereira Luppi completed her PhD at Northwestern University.

Abhishek Sampath Kumar, Ph.D.

Abhishek completed his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (Berlin), studying the role of developmental regulators during mouse embryogenesis at single-cell resolution. He is interested in using brain organoids to decode the mechanisms underlying cell fate acquisition and maintenance during human cortical development.

Rafaela Sartore, Ph.D.

Sebastiano Trattaro, Ph.D.

Sebastiano Trattaro completed his PhD in system medicine at the European School of Molecular Medicine in Milan, where he specialized in disease modelling through induced pluripotent stem cells. He is interested in using brain organoids to understand the molecular features of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Ana Uzquiano, Ph.D.

Ana obtained her Ph.D. in developmental neurobiology from the Sorbonne University in Paris, studying cortical development and associated malformations.

Anqi Wei, Ph.D.

Anqi is a Computational Scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She obtained her Ph.D. degree from Clemson University with specialization in Bioinformatics and genomic data science.

Sara Zeppilli, Ph.D.

Sara Zeppilli completed her PhD in Neuroscience from Brown University in Providence, studying the evolution of cortical cell types through the lens of the mouse olfactory cortex.

Staff Scientists

Juliana Brown, Ph.D.

Juliana Brown is a staff scientist and grant writer who brings her critical insights to every project in the lab.

Ph.D. Candidates

Zeke Benshirim

Zeke is interested in developing alternatives to animal research. He studied at Harvard College before entering the Ph.D. program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences.

Joycelyn Johnson

Joycelyn obtained her undergraduate degree at St. John’s University, where she studied the pathological mechanisms of Parkinson’s Disease in juvenile zebra fish. She is a PhD student in the Harvard Molecules, Cells, and Organisms (MCO) program.

Sebastian Morales

Sebastián Morales Vélez is a PhD student in the molecules, cells, and organisms (MCO) program. He completed his B.Sc. (biochemistry) and M.Sc. (chemistry) at McGill University.

Karen Song

Karen completed her BS in biology and in computer science at Duke University. She is a PhD student in the Harvard Molecules, Cells, and Organisms (MCO) program.

Institute Fellows

Mayank Ghogale

Mayank is a Bioinformatician in the lab and is interested in analysis of single cell sequencing spatial data. He obtained his masters degree in Bioinformatics from Boston University.

Andres Martinez Arroyo

Andres has a Master’s degree in Methodology in Health Sciences from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid with experience in data analysis and research. He is particularly interested in applying data analysis techniques to single-cell RNA sequencing research.

Undergraduate Students

Uyanga Batsaikhan

Uyanga is an undergraduate at Harvard College studying Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology.

Technical Staff

Sheher-Bano Ahmed

Sheher-Bano completed her Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience at Smith College with a minor in Chemistry and Translation Studies. She did an undergraduate honors thesis in protein engineering and developing targeted therapeutics to cross the blood-tumor barrier as part of the Moore Lab at Smith College.

Nalini Oliver

Nalini completed her Bachelor of Arts at Smith College in Biological Sciences with a minor in Statistical and Data Sciences. She previously worked at the Barresi Lab studying forebrain development in zebrafish.

Sayara Silwal

Sayara completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Connecticut. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in biomaterials and tissue engineering. Her senior design project was focused on modeling the blood-brain barrier on a microfluidic chip.

Vaishnavi Venkat

Vaishnavi completed her undergraduate studies at Rutgers University in Biological Sciences with a minor in Cognitive Science and then did her Masters in Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine at the University of Southern California before joining the Arlotta lab.

Faculty Assistant

Divya Gala

Divya Gala is the Senior Administrative Coordinator for the Arlotta Lab.

Lab Manager

Zachary Trayes-Gibson

Zachary Trayes-Gibson joined the Arlotta Lab from Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was a laboratory manager. Before MGH, he was a research assistant in Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He studied biological sciences at the University of Chicago.

Investigating the biology of neuropsychiatric disorders