Current PREP Scholars
Current PREP Scholars
2022 PREP Scholars
Olatunji "TJ" Akande graduated from Illinois State University with a B.S. degree in Biology in May 2021. He is working with Judith Behnsen in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the College of Medicine. His focus is on the inter-bacterial killing systems for Proteus mirabilis, and how they combat other bacteria for better colonization in the gut.
Irene Corona-Avila graduated from Albion College with a B.A. degree in Biochemistry (minor in Cellular and Molecular Biology) in May 2022. She is working in the laboratory of Deepak Shukla in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science in the College of Medicine. Fascinated by obligate intracellular parasites, Irene is studying the role of host proteins in modulating Herpes virus infections in human corneal cells, and how various endoplasmic reticulum resident proteins regulate Herpes Simplex Virus type-1 replication and spread.
Fidel Amaha graduated from Illinois State University with a B.S. degree in Neuroscience and a minor in Chemistry. He is working in the laboratory of Kuei Tseng in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology in the College of Medicine. His focus is on alpha-7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor signaling and how the signaling mechanism can impact the afferent drive and trace fear conditioning within the Prefrontal Cortex, Ventral Hippocampus, and Basolateral Amygdala of male adolescent and adult Sprague Dawley rats.
Ali Almousawi graduated from UIC with a B.S. degree in Neuroscience, and is continuing his studies in the laboratory of Sarah Lutz in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology. He is studying the implications of vascular aging and inflammation on the structure and function of blood-brain-barrier in SARS-CoV-2 with a focus on canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in brain endothelial cells (BECs) and how dysfunctional BECs contribute to neuropathology.
Kathy De La Torre graduated from UI Urbana-Champaign with a B.S. degree in Biochemistry, and is working in the laboratory of Joanna Burdette in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy. Her focus is on the effects of ovulation on fallopian tube-derived tumorigenesis and the use of a microfluidic device to simulate ovulation with different preneoplastic cell line models and assess early events in ovarian cancer.
Alberto (Beto) Araiza graduated from Illinois State University with a B.S. degree in Biology (minor in Psychology) in May 2020. He was working with Mitch Roitman in the Department of Psychology (Cognitive Neurosciences) in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and transitioned to the lab of Elizabeth Glover in the Department of Psychiatry. As a Senior PREP Scholar he is investigating the extracellular electrophysiological properties of the Rostromedial Tegmental Nucleus and its inhibitory inputs to the Ventral Tegmental Area in the context of alcohol use disorder.