The Yale Neuroscience Summer Scholars (YNSS) program concluded Aug. 22 with New Haven public high school students making presentations before a gathering in Harkness Auditorium at Yale School of Medicine.
The students—Daylin Calderon from Wilbur Cross High School, and Odeno Makomenaw, Yeendrol Norda, and Katherine Perez-Piscil from Engineering and Science University Magnet School—ended the eight-week program by presenting their research findings.
Daylin’s project was “Investigating Immune Cell Targeting in Paraneoplastic Brain.” Odeno presented on “The Immune Landscape of Brain Metastasis: Antigen Presentation and Lymphocyte Infiltration in NSCLC.” Yeendrol’s project was “Molecular Synergies Between LATE and Alzheimer’s Disease Revealed by Spatial-omics.” Katherine presented on “Understanding the Role of TDP-43 Following Injury.”
Chen Liu, MD, PhD, Anthony N. Brady Professor of Pathology and chair of Yale Pathology, welcomed the students, and Pallavi Gopal, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology, director, Yale Center for Human Brain Discovery, and co-director, YNSS program, introduced the students.
Each summer, a cohort of four YNSS Summer Scholars from New Haven public schools participates in the eight-week session that includes didactic education, hands-on training in laboratory techniques, and completion of a supervised research project. Scholars participate in scientific workshops and receive instruction on preparation for future applications to college science programs. They gain experience in reviewing scientific literature, conducting research in a laboratory, writing research summaries, and presenting research findings.
YNSS is made possible through the generous support of National Institutes of Health (NIH) / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) grant 1R25NS141167 and the Yale Department of Pathology.
In addition, many volunteers assisted in the program, including: Nii Addy, PhD; Cristina Anes; Meghan Bathgate, PhD; Demetrios Braddock, MD, PhD; Brandon Carrillo; Veronica Chiang, MD, FAANS; Ryan Cirillo, MS, CIH, CSP; Luis Cuevas; Deborah Day; Sam DeFina; Gina Della Porta, DHSc, MHS; Marcello DiStasio, MD, PhD; Jonay Flores-Liccien; Lorena Fonte; Kirby Gardner; Pallavi Gopal, MD, PhD; Melissa Grafe, PhD; Alayna Grzybowski; Rachel Jeffrey, PhD; Angela Kim; Andrew Koob, PhD; Benjamin Korn; Themis Kyriakides, PhD; Chen Liu, MD, PhD; Caleigh Mandel-Brehm, PhD; Angel J. Martinez Acevedo; Topher Mason; Amanda Masters, MHS, PA (ASCP); Claudia Merson; Sarah Nakhi; Paigham Nasruddin; Sofia Nunzia; Samantha O’Brien; Maria Parente, PhD; Stephanie Perry; Marina Picciotto, PhD; Sathish Ramakrishnan, PhD; Frankie Roman; Harold Sanchez, MD; Kurt Schalper, MD, PhD; and Michael Stankewich, PhD.