Get a Glimpse of NIH’s Graduate Student Science

Aspiring Scientists Show off Research Findings at Annual Event

By Brandon Levy

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

The NIH IRP provides not only a world-class environment for skilled scientists to make groundbreaking discoveries, but also an exhilarating training ground for the next generation of researchers. Among the many budding scientists working on NIH’s campuses are graduate students conducting part of their dissertation research in IRP labs. 

Of course, these ambitious trainees aren’t waiting until they receive their degrees to contribute to scientific breakthroughs. At this year’s Graduate Student Research Symposium, more than 100 of them presented research on topics ranging from the skin condition psoriasis to the role of immune cells in Alzheimer’s disease. Read on to learn more about some of the ways current IRP graduate students have expanded our understanding of the human body.

Angel Delgado: Advancing Knowledge of Antibody Assaults in Alzheimer’s Disease

Although biology was Angel’s favorite subject in school as a kid, it was during several summer breaks that he developed an interest in becoming a scientist. During middle school, Angel participated in several summer research camps at various universities across the U.S., which allowed him to explore a variety of scientific disciplines from zoology to genetics.

“This set me towards the path of loving scientific research and the rigorous nature that comes with it,” he recalls.

Now, as a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Angel is working towards becoming a fully-fledged scientist by studying immune cells called B cells in the lab of IRP senior investigator Patricia Gearhart, Ph.D. These cells gained widespread recognition during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they are the source of the antibodies with which the body fights off viruses like the novel coronavirus. However, depending on the behavior of the particular antibodies that a B cell makes, they may have either desirable or problematic effects. Angel is particularly interested in how B cells and the antibodies they produce affect the course of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Many studies have uncovered an extensive network of immune cells tasked with the protection and maintenance of the central nervous system,” he says. “In Alzheimer’s disease, dysregulation of this system leads to harmful inflammatory and autoimmune responses,” but the specific players involved and their respective roles remain mysterious, so Angel is looking at B cells and the antibodies they produce in mouse models of Alzheimer’s in order to see if those antibodies contribute to Alzheimer’s by attacking proteins or cells in the brain.

“Evidence of this would allow us to potentially uncover novel biomarkers in Alzheimer’s Disease that may be associated with the mobilization of these immune responses,” Angel adds. “This identification would be indispensable for the future landscape of earlier diagnoses of Alzheimer’s and accelerate the development of new immunotherapies.”

This is not Angel’s first time conducting research at NIH — he worked in a cancer lab there before beginning graduate school — and “once I had the opportunity to return, I came back running,” he says. His favorite part of being at NIH has been the opportunity to learn about the many ways scientists are probing the mysteries of the immune system, whether through discussions in his lab or participating in ‘journal clubs’ in which students from all around NIH analyze and talk about scientific papers.

“So far, I’ve loved being a graduate student at NIH,” he says. “After a while of searching for my specific scientific passion through many disciplines, I have found it through this program and my current lab.”

Fun fact: Angel once got lost while hiking with his cousin in Acadia National Park in Maine. He had to climb down a mountainside in the dark to get to a road so he could contact a sheriff for help. Despite that harrowing descent, he says, “it was still a fun experience!”

Jemma Strauss: Cracking the Calcium Code

Many North Carolina natives like Jemma have fond childhood memories of collecting calcium-rich seashells at the state’s numerous beaches, but her research at NIH has her looking at the mineral in a whole new way. 

“Calcium is the fifth most abundant element in the earth's crust, the ocean, and the human body, but it's not just responsible for building bones and teeth,” she says. “Within cells, calcium is critical because it’s got a variety of roles from egg fertilization to cell proliferation and death to immune system and neurobiological signaling. It must be tightly regulated to prevent aberrant signaling.”

Working under the mentorship of IRP senior investigator Anant Parekh, D.Phil., as part of her Ph.D. program at North Carolina State University, Jemma’s research has her homing in on calcium channels, carefully controlled passageways that allow calcium to flow in and out of cells. The particular calcium channel she is scrutinizing is involved both in the immune system and the brain, making it a possible treatment target for a variety of ailments once we learn more about it.

“Because of calcium’s integral functions in the immune system — for instance in allergies and asthma — I try to answer how the channel may be altered to ameliorate disease states,” Jemma explains. “Of course, the overarching goal would be to help develop a therapeutic to reduce peoples' suffering, but my work is relevant to other researchers who may study neurological, immune, or autoimmune diseases as well. Lately I've been most hopeful to contribute to finding a way to reverse the symptoms of psoriasis,” an inflammatory condition affecting the joints and skin.

For Jemma, training at NIH to become a scientist is the culmination of a life-long interest in biology. She has always been amazed by the complexity of the human body and the fact that “there are near-infinite opportunities for failure in almost any biological process, yet life continues not just to function but operate exquisitely.” And she has found NIH to be a similarly well-oiled machine. 

“I've been deeply fortunate to be a grad student at NIH,” she says. “I continue to learn so much from senior scientists and other fellows in my lab and throughout our Institute. We have cutting edge research opportunities, a richly collaborative environment, many amazing training opportunities, and the people with whom we get to work are all very nice. I've made so many great friends, and we share a lot in common beyond our happy obsession with research.”

Fun fact: Jemma figured she had a knack for studying behavior and the brain because she trained her cat, Mau, to use the toilet. When she’s not in the lab or teaching Mau new tricks, she “has a fountain pen obsession” that drives her to mix her own inks, and she also enjoys trekking out on hiking trails to search for gemstones.

Christian Lantz: Manipulating Mitochondria to Treat Movement Disorders

It takes a unique determination to crisscross oceans in order to pursue training as a scientist, but that’s what Christian decided to do when he enrolled in a program that has him conducting research both at NIH and the United Kingdom’s University of Oxford. 

“I’ve been interested in science since I was young,” Christian says. “I liked learning about how our genomes make us unique, and the exciting new genetic therapies that can correct errors in our genes. Now, I’m able to help advance our understanding of certain neuromuscular disorders myself. The lab I’m studying in at the NIH is perfect for me because I get to combine the basic science of investigating the biological pathways that lead to disease and new ways to correct those pathways.”

Under the tutelage of IRP Lasker Clinical Research Scholar Derek Narendra, M.D., Ph.D., Christian is studying how a protein found in cells’ energy-producing mitochondria, called CHCHD10, is involved in ‘neuromuscular’ disorders that cause movement problems by destroying the neurons that send signals from the brain to the muscles. As a starting point to learn more about CHCHD10, Christian is using the cutting-edge gene editing technique known as CRISPR-Cas9 to induce mutations in the CHCHD10 gene in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can develop into any type of cell. Once he pushes those iPSCs to develop into motor neurons and muscle cells known as myocytes, he can use the mutated cells to learn about the effects of CHCHD10 mutations. He is also helping his lab develop treatments that could potentially alleviate symptoms of neuromuscular disorders by destroying or otherwise interfering with the CHCHD10 messenger RNA molecules that relay the CHCHD10 gene’s instructions to cells’ protein-making machinery.

“My research findings could help us better understand how mitochondria, the sources of energy in our cells, are linked to diseases,” Christian explains. “They could also give insight into how we can develop therapies for people with these diseases using drugs that target the source of the disease.”

There are few better places in the world than NIH to conduct that kind of research, as Christian has access not only to the expertise of those in his own lab but also scientists all around NIH. Those peers are the main reason he has had such a thrilling time working at NIH.

“My experience as a graduate student at the NIH has been very fulfilling,” he says. “It’s rewarding to be surrounded by groundbreaking research and the stellar scientists who work tirelessly on that research.”

Fun fact: Christian grew up on a small farm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, surrounded by lots of animals. He thinks those animals are part of what sparked his interest in science.

Isabella Horton: Investigating Immune Responses to Injury

In a way, doctors are a lot like engineers, as the human body is essentially a really complicated machine made up of cells instead of nuts, bolts, and microchips. It’s no wonder, then, that some enthusiastic engineering students decide to dip their toes into the medical realm like Isabella has. After majoring in engineering as an undergraduate at the University of Colorado, she is now pursuing an M.D./Ph.D. at the University of Maryland at College Park. Her dual interests in engineering and medicine made her a natural fit to do her dissertation research in the lab of IRP Stadtman investigator Kaitlyn Sadtler, Ph.D., which aims to use an engineering approach to coax the immune system into making faster, more effective repairs after an injury.

“I knew I wanted to do an engineering Ph.D. and work in an engineering lab, but I wanted to keep things ‘translational’ since I’m going into medicine,” Isabella says. “I saw what Dr. Sadtler’s lab does and I know that immuno-engineering is an extremely popular and relatively new field, which makes it a really exciting space to be in. Her lab checked all the boxes of the skills I wanted to develop during my Ph.D.”

While much of the research in the Sadtler lab focuses on studying how the body responds to substances implanted inside it, like the plastics and metals used in knee and hip replacements or materials applied to treat wounds, Isabella’s project instead examines how a particular immune system signaling molecule, or cytokine, influences healing. Previous research in Dr. Sadtler’s lab suggested that the cytokine Isabella is studying, IL-29, is associated with higher odds of a patient surviving a serious injury, whereas a different one, IL-10, tends to be higher in patients who don’t survive. It remains unclear whether that has something to do with the two cytokines’ effects on healing, a question Isabella hopes her experiments will answer.

“Interestingly, these two cytokines share a receptor subunit, a component of the receptor that they signal through to communicate with a cell,” Isabella explains, “so I’m trying to figure out what cross-talk is happening between these cytokines.”

“In doing so,” she adds, “we might be able to develop a therapeutic to facilitate wound healing or come up with diagnostics to help clinicians triage trauma patients using levels of IL-29.”

Since Isabella is less than a year into the Ph.D. portion of her M.D./Ph.D. program, her classes at the University of Maryland have so far kept her from getting the full-time NIH experience. However, what she’s seen so far has her excited to spend more time on the NIH campus.

“Everyone has been extremely welcoming,” she says. “Everyone is very willing to share their resources, expertise, and time with me, whether it’s about my project or just general professional development, and I’m amazed at how open people are to that sort of collaboration. It’s really shown me that NIH is an environment where people want to work together for the betterment of people and medicine, and that people are here for the public service.”

Fun fact: In her free time, Isabella likes to read and do creative writing. So far, she has published two educational children’s books. One, about an effort to raise money for conservation efforts in Uganda, was a collaboration with a Ugandan ecologist Isabella had met while spending time there as part of a high school program focused on conservation and social justice. The other is about humpback whales, “because when I was younger, I thought I would become a marine biologist,” she says. “That obviously changed.”

Harrison Wang: Digging Into a DNA Destroyer to Treat Autoimmune Disease

Although science has always fascinated Harrison, his path towards pursuing a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania was longer and curvier than the path taken by many NIH graduate students. After double-majoring in Physics and Biology and experiencing lab life for the first time at the University of California, San Diego, he went to work at a small startup, where he worked on the development of a treatment for a rare autoimmune disease. 

“I was exposed to immunology for the first time there and became interested in autoimmune diseases,” he recalls. “While I was there, I had the opportunity to watch our therapy go from Phase 1b clinical trials to Phase 3. Later, it was approved in 2022, demonstrating to me that the discoveries we make as scientists can really make a difference in peoples' lives.”

However, in 2019 the company was acquired by another and the lab Harrison worked in was shut down. At that point, Harrison decided he wanted to learn programming, so he attended a data science bootcamp and subsequently pivoted to bioinformatics research. Then, all of a sudden, a close family member developed an autoimmune disease and was hospitalized for a month, prompting him to begin thinking of ways he could more directly help patients like her.

“During this experience, I learned immunology is very complicated and not well understood, even by medical practitioners, and this motivated me to apply for graduate school to advance my understanding of immunology,” Harrison says. “Furthermore, I realized that just being a data scientist analyzing other people's data was not enough for me. I felt it was important for me to be conducting my own experiments and collecting and analyzing my own data.”

Now, he is working towards that goal in the lab of IRP Stadtman Investigator Roxane Tussiwand, Ph.D., where he is studying an enzyme called DNASE1L1 that immune cells use to slice apart DNA they encounter outside themselves. DNA floating around freely outside cells can be a result of damage to the body from an injury or infection, so the ability to dice it up and get rid of it can be important for keeping the body functioning normally. For their part, Harrison and his colleagues in Dr. Tussiwand’s lab believe that problems with DNASE1L1 might contribute to autoimmune disease, but “its specific role in inflammation, autoimmunity, defense against infections, and other immune-related contexts is not well understood,” he explains — a gap he hopes to fill in through his Ph.D. research at NIH.

“Understanding how clearance of DNA plays a role in autoimmune disease may unlock new therapeutic interventions to prevent autoimmune patients in the early phase of their illness from developing more serious symptoms or to help patients with chronic autoimmune diseases manage their disease,” he says.

When thinking about a lab to do his dissertation research in, Harrison says he “purposefully chose labs in which I had a lot to learn and avoided labs in which I would just be repeating the same techniques I had already learned previously,” and he has indeed acquired a plethora of new skills under Dr. Tussiwand’s tutelage. Meanwhile, he has found the NIH IRP to be fertile ground in which to grow as a scientist, with its ready access to cutting-edge technologies, renowned experts, and abundance of scientific seminars and meetings.

“Being a graduate student, especially at NIH, has been a unique experience,” Harrison says. “I wouldn't trade it for anything else. When I came to NIH, I was amazed by the abundance of resources and the freedom to explore, both of which I believe are essential for deep learning and creativity. Having abundant resources meant that I could learn by trial and error, which is often the fastest way to gaining expertise.”

Fun fact: Harrison describes himself as “an avid rock climber,” and even met his girlfriend through climbing. “What really struck me about rock climbing was how supportive and cooperative the climbing community was,” he says. “Everyone cheers you on because there are no winners and losers. Everyone can win, everyone can complete the boulder problem and be happy, so people are always willing to help out.”

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