https://gsbs.tufts.edu/studentLife/GSC

Tufts Boston Graduate Student Council, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA (2025)

06/25/2021

Get hyped for Relays 2021! The official date is July 30th (raindate August 6th) and this year, it'll take place on Bello and Ounjian fields on the Medford campus. Don't forget to submit academic achievements for points: https://forms.gle/aFvDHKGysVaXk4be9

04/16/2021

New Insights Article Out Now!!

Imposter Syndrome? Sounds Like a "You" Problem

Have you ever self-diagnosed or been told you have imposter syndrome? A recent article in the Harvard Business review examines the origins of imposter syndrome and why it exists in the workplace. They argue we should stop telling women and POC they have imposter syndrome

04/14/2021

Hi All! The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Anti-Racist Working Group is looking for students, faculty, and staff to join our mission of working to become an anti-racist institution. This is a great opportunity to shape policy, think creatively, and have your voice heard. If you’re interested in joining, please email Alex Israel (Alexandra.israel@tufts.edu).

02/22/2021

Today's New Student Spotlight features Daniel Murimi-Worstell, an MD/PhD student in the Molecular Microbiology program!

I went to Johns Hopkins University and studied Biomedical Engineering (with a minor in music) as an undergrad. My research interest is infectious disease, especially from a global health perspective. My favorite hobby is music -- especially singing and guitar!

02/20/2021

Let's welcome Samia Pratt, a new PhD student in the Neuro at JAX program!

My name is Samia Pratt and I go by she/her pronouns. I grew up in Rhode Island and am now living in Bar Harbor, Maine. I completed my undergraduate degree May of 2020 at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine with a BS in Neuroscience and a minor in Marine Biology. During my undergraduate degree, I worked with Dr. Geoffrey Ganter’s lab looking at thermonociceptive sensitivities in adult Drosophila melanogaster and how social experience and s*x may influence pain sensitivity. Also during my undergraduate degree I worked with Dr. David Mokler and Cally Gurley on the Peter J. Morgane Research Collection on the Cetacean Brain where we focused on curating and analyzing Dr. Peter Morgane’s work on the Cetacean brain. I also spent a summer working as a Student Research Assistant in Dr. Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne’s lab at Massachusetts General Hospital where I focused on detecting abnormal Stathmin-2 mRNA processing in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patient samples as well as in cells with TDP43 depletion. I’m mostly interested in working on mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases and cellular health at the Neuromuscular Junction.

Outside of science I love to cook, bake, read, listen to music, spend time outside and hike. I had a minor in Marine Biology so I love to walk around the beach and see what plants and critters I can find! Unfortunately we’re not able to spend a lot of time in Boston but I’ve had a lot of fun getting to know Bar Harbor and the surrounding area. It’s been a blast exploring around the island and spending lots of time in Acadia Park. I’m very excited to start and look forward to getting to know the students and faculty more!

02/17/2021

A big welcome to Abe, a MD/PhD student, to the Immunology Program at Tufts GSBS!
My name is Abraham Bayer, but most people call me Abe. I grew up in Glastonbury CT and currently live in Cambridge. I also went to Tufts undergraduate and studied biochemistry! I’ll be a triple jumbo after my MD-PhD is done. I worked during undergraduate in a chemical biology lab studying the ubiquitin proteasome system. Before starting medical school I worked at MGH studying TGF beta signaling in iron homeostasis and disease, then last year rotated in a lab studying AKT signaling and tumor immune infiltration. I am most interested in studying immune infiltration into tissues, with a specific interest in tumor immunology. Outside of science I love running, exploring new breweries or coffeeshops, world traveling, and skiing in the winter. One of my favorite things about Boston is how easily accessible the city is even from suburbs, and how much there is packed into a relatively small city. I’ve lived here for 6 years now and still find new places and things to do.

02/16/2021

Today, we extend a warm welcome to Rebecca Condruti (Bec), a PhD student in the CMDB program!

I grew up in Gilbert, Arizona and love living just outside the city in Somerville. I did my Bachelor of Science in Microbiology at Arizona State University (go Sun Devils!). During my undergrad, I worked in Dr. Xuan Wang's metabolic engineering lab where I focused on the directed evolution of transmembrane efflux transporters in E.coli to increase microbial conversion of lignocellulose into ethanol. I also spent four months with Dr. Shukry Habib's lab at King's College London studying mitochondrial segregation during asymmetric stem cell division. I would like to merge my background in synthetic biology with my interests in molecular biology, focusing in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and the production of value-added chemicals.

I have been told I'm weirdly obsessed with my aussie, Leo, but I also have other interests that include weightlifting, convincing myself I can make art on Procreate, and trying out every single bakery in Boston - recs needed! I am excited to live out my New England dreams of sailing in the summer! I love trying new vegan cheeses and try to experiment with my own when I have the time. If anybody shares this weird (and expensive) hobby, they should reach out!

02/12/2021

Let's welcome a new student in the Immunology program, Tyler Colson:

You can call me Tyler or Ty. I grew up in Ridgway, Pennsylvania. I currently live in Boston. I got my undergraduate degree at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. I double-majored in biology and chemistry. I worked at Neon Therapeutics where we studied MHC peptide processing and presentation via mass spectroscopy based machine learning, coupled with investigation of antigen-specific T cell responses in correlation to the peptide-MHC binding affinity and biophysical properties of predicted epitopes. I worked at CRISPR Therapeutics where I developed and implemented preclinical and clinical assays for flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry using reagents generated specifically for our programs. I also helped interrogate T cell phenotype before and after genome editing. I’m mainly interested in T cell and NK cell biology and engineering as it pertains to overcoming immunoregulatory and disease-targeting hurdles in chronic illnesses such as cancer. I’m also interested in how molecular and cellular interactions during signaling direct T cell fate.

I enjoy the outdoors and photography. I love to travel, often intermingling my other hobbies with the places I visit; most of my photographs show the architecture, nature/scenery, and personality of the places I visit and I make it a goal to explore the natural surroundings of my destinations. I’m a huge plant dad with around 35 plants! I like Boston because it blends a modern city with "small-town" New England aesthetic. I have the advantages of an urban environment, but there is historic Georgian/Federal architecture surrounded by trees and open green spaces. It’s also close to many other locations that make great getaways for any season.

Interesting tidbit: When I was young, I simultaneously had 8 dogs, 3 cats, 3 turtles, 2 hermit crabs, 5 rabbits, and fish.

02/10/2021

Everyone welcome Ali to the Immunology program at Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences!

Ali Setaro

My name is Alessandra Setaro and I usually go by Ali. I grew up in Connecticut and have been in Boston for the last six years. In undergrad I was a Biology major and Public Health minor at Boston University. I currently work at the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel. Our lab focuses on HIV-1 vaccines, but we are currently running COVID vaccine trials and working on other SARS-COV-2 related projects. I enjoy my current work, which is largely focused on humoral immunity, but look forward to learning more about other areas of immunology. Outside of science, I enjoy singing and cooking. Boston is a great city, and I love the proximity to nature, museums, and great food in the area.

02/08/2021

Today we welcome Theresa Harvey, a PhD student in Neuroscience!

I grew up in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and I currently live in Watertown. I received my B.S. in Biochemistry from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 2018. After graduation, I worked at McLean Hospital in Dr. Darrick Balu's lab conducting basic neuroscience research. Working as a Technical Research Assistant under the guidance of Dr. Darrick T. Balu, I learned new behavioral, molecular, and biochemical laboratory techniques while expanding my appreciation for the conceptual basis of psychiatric disorders. I contributed significantly to ongoing projects that study the expression and localization of an enzyme, Serine Racemase (SR), as well as the transition of SR production from neurons to glia in traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). My contribution to the AD research and the localization of SR research in the lab led to co-authorship on two publications, one in the Neurobiology of Disease journal, demonstrating that neurotoxic astrocytes express SR in AD, and another in the Journal of Neuroscience, demonstrating dendritic and postsynaptic localization of SR and d-serine. From August 2020 to December 2020, I worked for Harvard Brain Tissue Research Center (HBTRC) at McLean Hospital, collecting RIN values for the brains at HBTRC and contributing to the 2020 genome project.

I am interested in studying neuron and glia interactions especially in relationship to inflammation and behavior. I also want to explore the transgenerational research in relation to psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Outside of the lab, I enjoy exploring nature by hiking, skiing, kayaking, biking, and camping. I also enjoy cozying up with a good book and scented candle. In my spare time, I like to dabble with painting and drawing.

My favorite part about Boston is the delicious food in the North End and Chinatown. I hope to explore more of these restaurants throughout my time at Tufts.

02/01/2021

Today's New Student Spotlight features Samantha Moores, a PhD student in the CMDB program!

My name is Samantha, but I prefer Sammy. I grew up in San Francisco, CA and now live in Brookline, MA. I graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in Biochemistry and East Asian Studies. After graduating college, I moved to St. Louis and started working in a lab at Washington University in St. Louis where I investigated the post-lysosomal cholesterol trafficking pathway and tested novel therapies for Niemann-Pick Type C disease. I then moved to Boston to work at the Joslin Diabetes Center where I performed high throughput sequencing analyses of RNA abundance and nucleoside modifications in mouse liver. I am interested in researching how metabolic dysfunction leads to disease. Outside of the lab, I enjoy playing with my cat, baking and cooking, swimming, bike riding and hiking, and have recently started cross-stitching. My favorite things about Boston include all of the food options and visiting nearby states.

01/29/2021

Today, we welcome Justine Tang, a new student in the Neuroscience program:

I was born in NYC, moved to CA when I was 6, and moved back to the East Coast for around 4.5 years now. I received a BS in Physics and MS in Biology from a small university in NorCal called University of the Pacific. For my masters, I studied underwater communication in the small, tropical frog, the túngara frog. I can do sick impressions of this frog species, and also of the American Bullfrog and a few species of treefrogs. Definitely a party trick I whip out to show how much of a nerd I am. I worked at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research for 4.5 years before coming to Tufts as a slice electrophysiologist. I have also dabbled in ICV injections and calcium imaging in mice, as well as post-image data analysis [i.e. building Python pipelines to handle large datasets coming from an image analysis software].

I am very interested in learning more about tripartite synapses, specifically the role that glial cells play in inhibitory synaptic transmission. I’m also very interested in correlating genetics data with synaptic transmission. Questions I like to ask myself are: Within the context of disease, if there is a SNP within a certain genomic hotspot, like 16p11.2, how does the dysfunctional proteins caused by SNPs [if any] correlate with synaptic transmission? How does cell-type specific protein expression correlate with cell-type specific synaptic interactions [i.e. is there a difference between inhibitory-inhibitory, inhibitory-excitatory, excitatory-excitatory synaptic transmission based on difference of protein expression]?

Outside of science, I really love to cook, bake, sew, sing, and crochet! I really want to camp and hike again so I’m looking into getting a car soon so I can pick those hobbies up again! In Boston, I personally really love walking along the Charles and the Arnold Arboretum. Also food adventures! I have eaten at basically every restaurant in Allston [where I lived before] and am currently working on all the food in Dorchester [where I live now]. An interesting fact: So as a gift for my last day of work, my old boss bought me the volume set of Santiago Ramon y Cajal’s Histology of the Nervous System and I am so enthused. I am currently reading it and it’s fascinating!

Tufts Boston Graduate Student Council

06/25/2021

04/16/2021

04/14/2021

02/22/2021

02/20/2021

02/17/2021

02/16/2021

02/12/2021

02/10/2021

02/08/2021

02/01/2021

01/29/2021

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Practice

Shortcuts

Share

Category