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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.

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 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.

Visiting Researchers

Technical Staff

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 Sarah Tropp

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

Faculty Assistant

Photo of Laura Veronica Chavez

Laura Chavez is the administrative and operations assistant. She helps with events and other administrative tasks, as well as assisting the Arlotta lab.

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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