Program Alumni

Kyrian Elekwachi is a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh where he studies neuroscience. He is an alumni of John Hopkins Internship in Brain Sciences (JHIBS) and currently studying HIV in the Brown Laboratory under Dr. Amanda Brown. His research this past summer focused on understanding how HIV affects different neuronal subtypes through brain oscillations and spontaneous neural activity in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders.

Catalina Argandona Lopez recently graduated in the spring of 2022 with a B.S. in Physiology and Neurobiology at the University of Maryland, College Park. She was born in La Serena, Chile and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland. For the past 3 summer she has been working in Dr. Amanda Brown’s lab focusing on neuroinflammation and inflammasomes. She recently took her MCAT and is now working as a Research Technologist in the Brown Lab.

Favorite quote: “The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science.”  – Albert Einstein

Hi, I’m Erika! Originally from Campbell, CA, I moved and grew up in Eugene, OR. I graduated in June of 2022 from the University of Oregon where I majored in Human Physiology and minored in Folklore. In the summer of 2021, I worked in Dr. Amanda Brown’s lab where I conducted research on bipolar disorder and how the L-type calcium channels of microglia may contribute to the illness. In 2022, I joined Dr. Leah Rubin’s lab where I investigated HIV’s impacts on cognition, specifically, information processing speed. Participating in research was the highlight of my college career and I hope to continue contributing to the field of neuroscience in the future.

My favorite quote is: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Michael Gary Scott, Wayne Gretzky

Fatima Zahra Karkoub is a junior at Notre Dame of Maryland University, Women’s College where she studies biology on the pre-medical track with aspirations of becoming a physician scientist in the in the field of neurology. This past summer, under the direction of Dr. Carlo Colantuoni and Dr. Audrey Knight, her research focused on harvesting gene expression data from research on the central nervous system’s function in the Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) and understanding cognitive impairments associated with the infection.

Edian Cuevas is a junior at the University of Puerto Rico in Aguadilla pursuing a major in Biology. As a John Hopkins NeuroPhyte Scholar during this summer 2020, she conducted an independent research project under the mentorship of Dr. Brett M. Morrison. Her research focused on the Role of Schwann cells P2X4R contributing to HIV gp120-induced painful neuropathy by releasing ATP from lysosomes altering DRG neurons in vivo. She wants to obtain a M.D/Ph.D. and continue her graduate studies at John Hopkins University.

Hannah Greaves is a graduate of Lafayette College where she studied biology and psychology. She spent two summers in the Brown Lab under the direction of Dr. Amanda Brown. Although her previous research with Dr. Brown examined the ability of HIV-1 to establish and maintain reservoirs within macrophages/microglia, she has spent this past summer evaluating the role of Heat Shock Protein (HSP-90) stress response in HIV-1 and HIV associated comorbidities. Following graduation from Lafayette, she is planning on attending an accelerated nursing program designed for students who have a bachelor’s degree in a field than nursing. She hopes to be able to combine her interest in nursing and her passion for research in her professional career.

Suwilanji Muwowo is a rising senior at Boston University where she is majoring in neurobiology and political science. This is her second year in the Neurophytes Scholars program studying HIV under the direction of Dr. Amanda Brown. Her research this past summer focused on HIV induced aggregate formation and neuropathologic hallmarks in Alzheimer’s disease. Following graduation, she hopes to continue her HIV and infectious disease work abroad in Zambia.