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Arlotta Lab

Investigating the biology of neuropsychiatric disorders

Researchers in the Arlotta laboratory are committed to making meaningful contributions to the study of neuropsychiatric disorders. We are based mainly in the Sherman-Fairchild building on Harvard’s Cambridge campus. We also carry out work a the Stanley Center of the Broad Institute.

Photo of Paola Arlotta
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 and Affiliates

Photo of Noelia Antón-Bolaños

Noelia Antón-Bolaños completed her graduate studies at the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche.

Photo of Michael Borrett

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.

Photo of Nuria Dominguez Iturza

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

Photo of Irene Faravelli

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.

Photo of Rahel Kastli

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.

Photo of Tyler Faits

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.

Photo of Michal Lipinski

Michal Lipinski completed his graduate studies at the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche.

Photo of Marta Montero Crespo

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.

Igor Nikolskiy completed his PhD at the Department of Biology and Biomedical Sciences at Washington University in St Louis.

Photo of Milagros Pereira Luppi

Milagros Pereira Luppi completed her PhD at Northwestern University.

Photo of Abhishek Sampath Kumar

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.

Photo of Ashwin Shetty

Ashwin Shetty is a postdoctoral fellow at HSCRB and at the Broad Institute. He obtained his Ph.D. in developmental neuroscience from Tata Institute of Fundamental research in Mumbai.

Photo of Sebastiano Trattaro

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.

Photo of Ana Uzquiano

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

Photo of Anqi Wei

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.

Photo of Sara Zeppilli

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

Photo of Juliana Brown

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

Ph.D. Candidates

Photo of 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.

Photo of 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.

Photo of 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.

Photo of 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.

Undergraduate Students

Photo of Uyanga Batsaikhan

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

Hugo is an undergraduate at Harvard College studying Applied Math with a focus in Computer Science.

Technical Staff

Photo of Aiman Altaf

Aiman completed her Bachelor of Science in Molecular & Cellular Biology at the Johns Hopkins University, where she worked on an iPSC model to study Huntington’s Disease in Dr. Xia Feng’s lab.

Photo of Sophia Andreadis

Sophia completed her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience & Behavior at Wesleyan University before joining the Arlotta Lab.

Photo of Noah Kozub

Noah graduated from Providence College in 2022 with a B.S. in Biology, where he worked in the Austriaco Lab studying Parkinson’s Disease in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Currently, Noah works with human brain organoids as a tissue culture technician in the Arlotta Lab.

Photo of 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.

Photo of Sarah Tropp

Sarah completed her Bachelor of Science (Honors) in molecular biology at the University of Toronto.

Photo of 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

Photo of Stephane Alexandre

Stephane Alexandre is the Senior Administrative Coordinator for Dr. Paola Arlotta. She manages Dr. Arlotta’s schedule and administrative needs.

Lab Manager

Photo of 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.

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