Alumni Graduate IMSD-MERGE Scholars

• Andreyah Pope
  

  Biochemistry and Structural Biology, Doctoral Program Andreyah is a Long Island native. She received her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Stony Brook. As an undergraduate, she worked with Dr. Steven Smith as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) Scholar. Her work in Dr. Smith's lab resulted in a first-author publication in the journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA). For her graduate studies, Andreyah continues to work in Dr. Steven Smith's lab and is interested in refining the common activation mechanism for G-protein coupled receptors using rhodopsin as a model.
•  Chantal Adlam
  

   Chemistry, Doctoral Program Based on the CUNY Class of 2014 Fixed Profile: Chantal moved to the United States in 2008, entering the CUNY Justice Academy program at Borough of Manhattan COmmunity College. This allowed her to transfer to John Jay where she obtained her B.S. in Forensic Science, and eventually moved on to obtain her doctorate in Chemistry from Stony Brook University. She credits her upbringing in Jamaica as the source of inspiration for the sciences. 
• Dominic Moronta
  

  Chemistry, Doctoral Program Dominic is originally from Queens, NY, but moved to Arizona for high school. He went on to receive his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Arizona. As an undergraduate student, Dominic conducted research on a novel sulfur copolymer and its applications in lithium-sulfur batteries and optics. His interest in research was further stimulated when he began examining the use of waste materials as components in new and highly applicable technologies. Dominic's current work is on functional nanomaterials for energy and bio technologies where the focus is on understanding structure-property relationships. 
• Warren Buzzell
  

  Biomedical Engineering, Doctoral Program Warren is highly motivated to integrate his Biomedical and Manufacturing Engineering backgrounds to aid innovation toward additive and subtractive manufacturing, as well as Six Sigma, techniques with biomedical applications. His research experience includes 3-D printing molds and hydrogel fabrication for traumatic brain injury studies and the development of a gas impermeable chamber, which he CNC machined out of aluminum, for cancer on a chip research. He is currently working as a research scientist for burn related clinical studies where he assists with all animal related activities and performs data analyses on the burns.
• Daniel Irizarry
  

  Genetics, Doctoral Program Daniel worked a decade in the construction business before receiving his bachelor’s degree in Biology from Stony Brook University in 2016. He began his research career at Stony Brook working in the laboratory of Dr. Nancy Reich, which was facilitated by the Chancellor's Education Pipeline Biomedical Research Award. Daniel later worked in the laboratory of Dr. Jennie Williams, investigating cancer and racial health disparities. In addition to being a Bridge to the Doctorate Fellow, he is also an IMSD-MERGE Graduate Scholar. In his free time, he enjoys basketball, volunteering, and as of May 2016, spending time with his newborn son.
• Tanya Victor
  

  Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Doctoral Program

  Tanya is originally from Long Island, but left to receive her B.A. in Biology from SUNY Potsdam. She then continued her studies at the University at Albany, where she earned an M.S. in Biomedical Sciences/Molecular Genetics. Her research examined the peptide epitopes for use as potential diagnostic targets for Cystic Fibrosis screening of newborns. After gaining experience in clinical laboratories, she decided to return to school to pursue a career in research. Tanya's current work is investigating the effects of cannabidiol in microglial activation.

   

• Meagan Conner
  

  Neuroscience, Doctoral Program Meagan was born and raised in Houston, TX. In May of 2016 she graduated from Texas A&M with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology minoring in Neuroscience. During her time at A&M she worked in a neuroscience lab at the university’s Health Science Center researching receptors involved in alcohol addiction and well as a pathology lab at the university’s veterinary school testing a vaccine for foal pneumonia developed at Harvard. Meagan is currently working towards her PhD in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior here at Stony Brook University.
• Kyle McEvoy
  

  Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Doctoral Program Kyle is passionate about investigating the inner workings of fungal immunity and the general pipeline of antifungal drug development. Moreover, he is interested in the host-pathogen interactions that occur during Cryptococcus neoformans infection. One of his main projects focuses on identifying the binding partner(s) of the newly developed (by his lab) antifungal compounds through use of photo-affinity labeling. Another project of his centers on observing how sphingosine kinase 1 regulates the immune clearance of cryptococcal infections as well as other fungal infections. His research experiences include working with biochemical assays and observing the cross-linking of alpha-synuclein proteins in Lewy Bodies in Parkinson’s disease patients (2017).
• Kellon Belfon
  

  Chemistry, Doctoral Program Kellon received his B.Sc in Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of the West Indies and his M.S in Chemistry at Long Island University. His undergraduate research involved studying the relationships between atomic charges and electronegativity in small organic molecules. At the master's level, his research examined the application of photochromic molecules in logic devices using density functional theory. He is currently, a member of the Simmerling lab at the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology. His research encompasses Proteases' conformational dynamics and functions, using a variety of computational tools such as molecular dynamics simulations. 
• Jinnette Tolentino Collado
  

  Chemistry, Doctoral Program Jinnette received a B.S. in Chemistry from York College and a M.S. in Chemistry from Queens College. As undergraduate student, her first research project was on the characterization of metal - carboxylate interaction. As a master's student, she studied the aggregation of human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP), also known as Amylin. The goal of the project was to assess the role played by aromatic residue Phe in driving amyloid formation. Exposure to different areas of research inspired Jinnette to pursue doctoral study in Chemistry.
• Jinelle Wint
  

  Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Doctoral Program Jinelle entered the Biochemistry and Cell Biology master's program here at Stony Brook in the Fall of 2013, where she collaborated with Dr. J. Peter Gergen, the Program Director of the IMSD Program, working with the Drosophila genus of flies. Her research focused on the developmental genetic framework of the Drosophila embryo to examine the regulation of gene. Jinelle entered the Molecular and Cellular Biology Doctoral Program in the Fall of 2014. Jinelle is currently working in the laboratory of Dr. Howard Sirotkin, where she is using CRISPR/Cas 9 to manipulate genes linked to Parkinson's disease in the model organism zebrafish.
• Emilie Bouda
  

  Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Doctoral Program Emilie graduated High School in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and received a B.A. in Biochemistry from Hunter College, CUNY. As an undergraduate, she had the opportunity to explore a potential novel target for treating Pulmonary Hypertension using small molecule inhibitors. She is currently focusing on understanding the structural basis of small molecules binding to their target enzyme kinetics and how these molecules can mature into clinical approved drugs for cancer and diabetics therapeutics. She especially would like to be able to contribute to fighting drug resistance in cancer treatment.