Lab Members

Dr. Sansing completed her residency in Neurology in 2006 followed by a Vascular Neurology fellowship from 2006-2008, both at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Her clinical interests include acute ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage as well as other complex neurovascular diseases. Following clinical training, she completed a Master of Science in Translational Research at Penn studying immune mechanisms of injury after intracerebral hemorrhage. She then joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut and Hartford Hospital in 2010, where she was active in the Departments of Neurology, Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, and Immunology. Dr. Sansing came to Yale in the summer of 2014, where she continues her work in cerebrovascular diseases and neuro-inflammation through basic, translational, and clinical studies. She leads a NIH-funded laboratory identifying immunological treatment targets for stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, vascular cognitive impairment and dementia. She has received numerous national and international awards for her research, including the Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, the Derek Denny-Brown Neurological Scholar Award from the American Neurological Association, the Michael S. Pessin Stroke Leadership Award from the American Academy of Neurology, and is an elected member of the Henry Kunkel Society and the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Jonathan completed his PhD in the lab of Dr. Chris Hunter at the University of Pennsylvania. His thesis work helped establish the cytokine IL-27 as a critical driver of inhibitory receptor expression, important in limiting T cell-mediated immunopathology as well as limiting productive anti-tumor responses. In the Sansing lab, he is studying the endogenous signals that control inflammation and wound healing following hemorrhagic stroke. One major focus is on the immunomodulatory effects of cholesterol. Previous studies have demonstrated compelling effects of cholesterol on the macrophage response to LPS. Jonathan aims to expand on these observations, developing a broader model to understand the roles of cholesterol uptake in macrophage function, with a focus on sterile inflammation.

Conor, hailing from the Chicago suburbs, is a junior Neuroscience major at Yale. His research interests include immunology, oncology, and metabolism, and his work in the Sansing lab focuses on the intersection of inflammation and metabolic pathways in tissue-resident macrophages. When he’s not pipetting media or running flow, Conor pitches for the Yale club baseball team and DJ-s on a campus radio show.

Sarah graduated from Carleton College in 2018 with a BA in biology and a minor in neuroscience and Japanese. At Carleton she worked in the lab of Debby Walser-Kuntz, PhD studying neutrophil recruitment to sites of injury in a zebrafish model. After graduating, she worked for two years as a research assistant in Richard Axel's lab at Columbia University, where she focused on trying to understand how odorant identity is encoded in the piriform cortex. Sarah began her graduate studies in immunobiology at Yale in 2020, where she is co-mentored by Kevin O'Connor, PhD and Lauren Sansing, MD and studies the role that B cells play in the brain post stroke, utilizing both human samples and mouse models.

Ligia Simoes Braga Boisserand received her PhD in Neuroscience/neurobiology at the Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) in France, working mainly in experimental stem cell therapy after MCAo, brain magnetic resonance imaging, and biomaterials. As an associate research scientist in the Sansing Lab, Ligia seeks to establish models of ischemic stroke in order to complement the lab expertise in the study of neurovascular diseases and the immune system.

Leo hails from from Corvallis, Oregon, and is a sophomore Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry student at Yale. He is interested in many different fields, including immunology and oncology. His work in the Sansing Lab focuses on the manipulation of macrophage phenotype to enhance recovery from an intracerebral hemorrhage, specifically on the role of cholesterol in the inflammatory response in macrophages. In his free time, Leo loves to stay active by hiking and playing soccer.

Elizabeth is an MD/PhD student from a suburb of Chicago, IL. She attended the University of Chicago where she received a B.A. in Economics and a minor in Biology. She joined the Thinakaran lab, a neurobiology lab, where she studied the role of Rab35 GTPase in modulating APP processing in Alzheimer's Disease in a cellular model. Currently, she is co-mentored by Drs. Amy Arnsten and Lauren Sansing and is studying how neuronal calcium dysregulation contributes to the region-specific vulnerabilities seen in Alzheimer’s Disease. Outside of the lab, she is interested in policy surrounding drug pricing and end-of-life care as well as teaching point of care ultrasound to medical students. She is an avid learner of foreign languages and loves to travel to learn about new cultures. She is also part of the Citations (Yale Graduate and Professional Student A Capella), has served as MSC president (2017-2018), Yale Health Professions Christian Fellowship, and loves desserts & all things Broadway.