PEOPLE
Josh Levitz
Associate Professor
Josh received a B.S. in Biology and a B.S. in Physics from American University in 2009. While an undergraduate he worked in the lab of Miguel Holmgren at the National Institutes of Health. As a PhD student and postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Ehud Isacoff at UC Berkeley, Josh developed and applied new optical approaches to study the activation mechanisms and neurophysiology of glutamate receptors and ion channels. He joined the department of biochemistry at Weill Cornell in September 2016.
contact: jtl2003@med.cornell.edu
Hermany Munguba
Postdoctoral Fellow
Hermany is originally from Brazil, where he graduated magna cum laude from the UFRN with a B.S. in Biomedicine and M.S. in Molecular Neuroscience. While as an undergraduate he studied the involvement of different neurotransmissions in fear memory formation, as a master’s student he focused on comparing genetically-encoded sensors in neuronal cultures paired with patch-clamp recordings. He then moved to Sweden to do his PhD at the Karolinska Institute where he worked with molecular and electrophysiological characterization of cortical interneurons, focused on neuronal diversity and maturation. Hermany joined the Levitz lab in 2019, where he will study the modulatory role of GPCRs in brain circuits relevant for psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and depression.
contact: hmv4001@med.cornell.edu
Dagan Marx
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dagan received a B.S. in both Biochemistry and Environmental Science from the University of Iowa in 2014. As an undergraduate, he worked in the lab of Dr. Madeline Shea studying the regulation of voltage-gated sodium channels by calmodulin. He then moved to Baltimore to do his PhD with Dr. Karen Fleming at Johns Hopkins University where he studied both how chaperone proteins solubilize unfolded membrane proteins, and membrane protein folding and stability. Dagan joined the Levitz and Eliezer labs at WCM in 2021 and is interested in understanding how GPCR function is regulated by macromolecular interactions.
Contact: dcm4002@med.cornell.edu
Alberto González-Hernández
Postdoctoral Fellow
Alberto received a B.S. in Biology and a MSc in Biomedicine with honors at the University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. Interested in neuroscience since he was an undergraduate student, he received a grant from the Spanish National Research Council to do a short internship in the lab of Dr. Elisa Martí (IBMB-CSIC, Barcelona). There, he learned about the cell fate determination of the neural tube differentiation. Afterwards, he did his B.S. project at the Prof. Diego Alvarez de la Rosa lab, studying the mineralocorticoid dependent expression of the epithelial sodium channel. He did his PhD in the Prof. Teresa Giraldez lab with a fellowship from the Ministry of Education in Spain. He focused on the structure-function of a calcium activated potassium channel and its interaction with different neuronal calcium sources combining patch-clamp electrophysiology with high-resolution imaging techniques. He obtained his PhD degree, cum laude, in October 2021. He joined the Levitz lab in March 2022 where he will study the GPCR synaptic mechanisms from a molecular and biophysical perspective
Contact: ajg4003@med.cornell.edu
Ipsit Srivastava
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ipsit received his PhD from Karolinska Instituet, Stockholm, Sweden where he studied the interaction of astrocytes and synapses in health and disease. With the motivation to understand specific brain circuits he joined the Levitz lab, where he will dissect the role of mGluRs in brain circuits involved in anxiety and stress using a combination of techniques such as electrophysiology, optogenetics and photo-pharmacology.
Contact: ips4002@med.cornell.edu
Luca Posa
Postdoctoral Fellow
Luca received his B.Sc in Biology and, later, his Pharm.D, both from the University of Bologna in Italy. During his time as a pharmacy graduate student, he spent a year at the University of Paris Descartes in France, where he conducted research into the cellular and molecular determinants of central opioid tolerance. Subsequently, he relocated to Canada, where he pursued his PhD in Psychiatry at McGill University, focusing on understanding the interaction between the melatoninergic and opioid systems in the context of pain and addiction.
Following his doctoral studies, Luca embarked on a postdoctoral journey. Initially, he joined the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where he delved into investigating the role of monoamines in central pain modulation. Later, he transitioned to Boston University, where he focused on studying the crosstalk between GPCRs and RTKs in peripheral tolerance.
In 2023, Luca joined the Levitz lab, where he is dedicated to exploring the role of GPCRs in modulating the brain circuits underlying neuropsychiatric disorders, including chronic pain and its associated emotional states.
Contact: lup4008@med.conrell.edu
Silvia Martinelli
Postdoctoral Fellow
Silvia earned a B.S. in Biology from the University of Siena, Italy, and a M.Sc. in Neurobiology with honors from the University of La Sapienza, Rome, Italy. In 2014, she became a part of the International Max Planck Research School in Munich, Germany, where she completed a rotation year at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, utilizing zebrafish as a model for mental disorders. Subsequently, she pursued her Ph.D. at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, focusing on unraveling the molecular mechanisms behind stress-related disorders within Dr. Elisabeth Binder's research group. After a postdoctoral year in the same lab, Silvia transitioned to industry, serving as a medical science liaison manager at Roche Diagnostics in Switzerland. Driven by her unwavering passion for research, she later returned to academia, joining the labs of J. Levitz and F. Lee to investigate the intracellular pathways of GPCRs and RTKs associated with psychiatric disorders.
contact: sim4003@med.cornell.edu
Alexa Strauss
PhD Student
Alexa graduated from Wesleyan University with high honors and earned a B.A. in Chemistry and in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry. During her time at Wesleyan, she worked in the laboratory of Dr. Donald Oliver. Her research in the Oliver Lab focused on studying the oligomerization of key proteins in the bacterial general secretory pathway, using biochemical and single molecule techniques. She is now a member of the Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Chemical Biology (TPCB) and joined the Levitz Lab in 2020. She is currently interested in studying the structure function relationship in GPCRs, specifically as it relates to receptor activation.
contact: afs4001@med.cornell.edu / LinkedIn
Giovanna (Gia) Romano
PhD Student
Gia received her B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from San Francisco State University in 2016. After graduating, Gia worked as a research associate in Dr. Roshanak Irannejad’s Lab at UCSF studying G protein-coupled receptor organelle-based signaling and membrane trafficking. In 2019, Gia started her PhD in the Physiology, Biophysics, and Systems Biology (PBSB) program at Weill Cornell. She is interested in the development and application of photopharmacological tools to elucidate molecular and cellular mechanisms of synaptic transmission and modulation.
Contact: grr4003@med.cornell.edu
Iram Arefin
Technician
Iram graduated from the University of Chicago in 2022 and earned a B.A in Neuroscience and B.S's in Chemistry, and Biochemistry. During his time at the University of Chicago, he worked in the laboratory of Douglas Bishop. There, he focused on the molecular mechanisms of meiotic homologous recombination -- specifically detecting in vivo interactions between key recombination proteins using Yeast Two-Hybrid assays, as well as characterizing recombination hotspot activity using classical genetic techniques. Iram joined the Levitz lab at WCM in 2022 and is interested in studying the circuit basis of antidepressants.
Kevin Huynh
Technician
Kevin graduated from Rice University in 2022 with a B.S. in BioSciences, concentrating in Molecular and Cell Biology. As an undergraduate, he worked in the laboratories of Theodore G. Wensel and Zhao Wang at the Baylor College of Medicine to investigate the structure of TRPV2 cation channels using cryo-electron microscopy. Kevin joined the Levitz lab at WCM in 2023 and is interested in the structure-function relationship of GPCRs and the molecular mechanisms of their desensitization.
Contact: keh4009@med.cornell.edu
Akshara Vijay
Technician
Akshara graduated from UC Berkeley in 2022, where she studied Molecular and Cell Biology: Neurobiology and Psychology. After graduating, she worked in the Canzio Lab at UCSF, where she investigated protocadherin proteins, a class of cell-adhesion molecules involved in neural wiring, within the olfactory system. Akshara joined the Levitz Lab at WCM in 2023 and is interested in investigating the molecular and behavioral effects of chronic stress in adult mice.
Contact: akv4004@med.cornell.edu
Lab Alumni
Jordana Thibado, PhD (2021) - Associate Scientific Director at Chameleon Communications International
Amanda Acosta Ruiz, PhD (2021) - Associate, Biotechnology Equity Research at Leerink Partners
Vanessa Gutzeit, PhD (2021) - Consultant at BCG
Matthew Bredder, MS (2021) -
Nohely Abreu, PhD (2022) - Assistant Scientific Director at Chameleon Communications International
Mindy Krist, Technician (2022) - MD Student at Columbia
Jared Moon, MD/PhD (2023) - Residency at Columbia
Prerana Vaddi, Technician (2023) - PhD Student at Buck Institute for Research on Aging
Joon Lee, Postdoc (2023) - Senior Scientist in Ha and Springer labs at Harvard Medical School
Guoqing Xiang, Postdoc (2023) -
Lab Photos
WCM Photo Shoot
October 2022 - Lab BBQ and Pumpkin Carving Contest
August 2023 - Alexa and Aiden at the high school Catalyst summer poster session!