Principal Investigator
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Dr. Sofia B. Lizarraga is originally from Peru. She received her PhD from The Johns Hopkins University studying the assembly of the mitotic spindle with Dr. Yixian Zheng. She became fascinated with the role of the cytoskeleton in neuronal development and did her postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School with Dr. Christopher A. Walsh.  She continued her work in neurodevelopmental disorders with a focus on autism at Brown University as an investigator with Dr. Eric M. Morrow.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Calvin Leung is a postdoctoral fellow from California. He originally graduated from U.C. Santa Cruz with a bachelors degree in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology in 2013, following up with a PhD in Molecular Biology at UCLA in 2019. His research focuses on the gene ASH1L's effects on chromatin epigenetics and transcriptional regulation/analysis. When not in lab, Calvin enjoys spending time hiking and hanging out with his cat, Freddie.

Research Technician

Joseph Ward is originally from Florence, South Carolina. He graduated with a bachelors in Biology from the University of South Carolina in 2022 and plans to attend graduate school to achieve a PhD. He enjoys molecular and developmental biology as well as music and the beach. He manages lab upkeep as well as working on research projects.

FORMER TRAINEES AND LAB ALUMNI

Koffi Norman-Salako, MD. Harvard Medical School 2005, HHMI program summer undergraduate mentee.
Rohin Jamain, Harvard Medical School 2006, summer undergraduate mentee.
Luis Mejia, PhD. Harvard medical School 2006, rotation student mentee now postdoctoral fellow @ Cold Spring Harbor.
Sophia Lin, MD, Brown Univ. 2010-2011 (Royce Fellow).
Kathryn R. Costner, PhD, Brown Univ. rotation graduate student mentee 2011 (MCB program), now scientist at Pfizer.
Jingy Gong, BSc. Brown Univ. student mentee  2011-2014, now Resident Physician @ Brigham and Women's.
David Stein, BSc. Brown Univ. student mentee 2012-2013, now Resident Physician @ Mass General Hospital.
Mori Shands, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina student mentee 2015.
Paul Brito-Vargas, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina, research assistant 2015, now at Nestle. 
Nicholas Marinelli, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina, undergraduate 2016-2017, now Vanderbilt Univ., PhD program.
Duncan Nowling, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina, undergraduate  2017-2018, now at MUSC, PhD program.
Guillermo Pineda, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina, undergraduate 2016-2017.
Mara Cowen, BSc. Univ.of South Carolina, undergraduate  2015-2018, now at UPenn, PhD program.
Pankaj Ghate, PhD. Univ. of South Carolina, postdoctoral fellow 2016-2018, now staff scientist at St. Jude Children's Hospital.
Gustavo Martinez, BsC. Univ. of South Carolina, prep-program student 2017-2018 now graduate student at SOM USC.
Anna Bagnell, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina, undergraduate 2017-2019, now at Johns Hopkins, PhD program.
Mary-kate Lawlor, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina, undergraduate 2018-2019, Georgetown Med. School, M.D. program.
Carly Tew, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina, undergraduate 2018-2019, @ PA School.
Seon Hye-Cheon, MSc. Univ. of South Carolina, research scientist 2015-2019, research specialist at Novartis.
Evelyn Chukwurah, PhD. Univ. of South Carolina, postdoctoral fellow 2018-2019, postdoctoral researcher at Case Western Med. School.
Collin Cheatle, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina, undergraduate researcher 2020.
Esteban Carmona, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina, undergraduate researcher 2020.
Kaitlin Cox, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina, research assistant 2019, psychology student at Medical University of South Carolina.
Mikayla McCord, BSc. Univ. of South Carolina, undergraduate researcher 2020, master's student at UPMC.
Allie Culver, PhD. Univ. of South Carolina, doctoral graduate student 2017-2021, assistant professor and lab coordinator at University of South Carolina.
Janay Vacharasin, PhD. Univ. of South Carolina, doctoral graduate student 2018-2022, assistant professor at Francis Marion University.
Foster Ritchie, MSc. Univ. of South Carolina, research technician and masters graduate student 2019-2022, MPH student at Emory University.
Hailey Xu, Univ of South Carolina, undergraduate student 2010-2022, bachelor's student at Univ. of South Carolina.
Brian Yoon, Univ. of South Carolina, undergraduate researcher 2021-2022, bachelor's student at Univ. of South Carolina.