Current Lab Members
Jonathan Lipton, MD, PhD | Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor of Neurology
A native of New York City, Jonathan Lipton studied Classics at Brown University ([ἓν οἶδα ὅτι] οὐδὲν οἶδα) and classical piano and conducting before joining the MD/PhD program at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his PhD on genetics of motivated behavior with Scott Emmons and then clinical training in child neurology and sleep medicine. After post-doctoral training with Mustafa Sahin at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, he joined the Kirby Center for Neurobiology at Boston Children’s Hospital where he is also a practicing pediatric neurologist.
The Lipton lab is fascinated by the interface between circadian rhythms and neurological disease. We take multi-disciplinary approaches that integrate cell biology, biochemistry with genetics and behavior in animal models. Our goal is to help unravel the ‘fourth dimension’ of cellular function to capitalize on temporal organization as an untapped source for novel neuropsychiatric therapeutics.
Suil Kim, PhD, Postdoc
suil.kim@childrens.harvard.edu
Suil is from South Korea and received his PhD in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University. He studied how a master circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the brain encodes various external lighting conditions and expresses plasticity at the molecular level. Outside of lab, he enjoys spending time with his family, exploring new places in New England, and trying different cuisines.
Sarah Ferraro, PhD, Postdoc
sarah.ferraro@childrens.harvard.edu
Sarah is from Montreal, Quebec where she obtained her PhD in biology at Concordia University under the supervision of Shimon Amir. Her doctoral work focused on circadian disruption in an animal model of autism spectrum disorder.
Nicole Gilette, MD/PhD student
nicole.gilette@childrens.harvard.edu
Nicole is a Philadelphian turn Bostonian and MD/PhD candidate in the Harvard/MIT HST program. Nicole used to study aromatase activity in crayfish exposed to various pesticides/herbicides and then went on to investigate the genetic and molecular regulators of cranial nerve and extra-ocular muscle development. She is now interested in how our environment and lifestyle choices (think nutritional components, exercise, light/dark cycles etc.) can modulate the development, activity and degeneration of the brain at the cellular level. She gets particularly jazzed thinking about how to leverage better understanding of cell biology in the CNS to then optimize its function, prevent damage, or repair it in the context of neurological disease. She enjoys hiking, playing classical piano and thinking about the dog she will get when she doesn't live in a minuscule Boston apartment.
Hannah Blume, PhD student
hannah.blume@childrens.harvard.edu
Hannah Blume is a Neuroscience PhD student. She studied Neuroscience and Gender Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Outside of lab she loves salsa dancing, playing Dungeons & Dragons, and eating food.
Odile Peroni, PhD, Lab Manager
odile.peroni@childrens.harvard.edu
Odile is from France (Savoie), where she obtained her PhD in Physiology and Metabolism at Universite Claude Bernard (Lyon 1). During her postdoctoral fellowship and employment in the Endocrine Division at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston), she studied adipose tissue metabolism and its role in the development of insulin resistance and inter-tissues communications using tissue-specific knockout or overexpressing mouse models. She has extensive experience performing in vivo studies (Glucose, insulin, or lipid tolerance test) and measurement of metabolic pathways (glucose transport and metabolism, euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp, de novo lipogenesis).
Jack Polo, Research Assistant
jack.polo@childrens.harvard.edu
Jack is from Connecticut and received a B.A. in Neuroscience from Oberlin College. He previously worked in the Mariani lab studying hormonal modulation of microglial macrophages in Alzheimer’s disease. While at Oberlin he also studied classical piano, directed analytics for his football team, and taught a class on brain evolution. In the next few years, he hopes to apply to graduate school. In his free time, he enjoys reading, exercising, listening to music, and banging away on any piano he can find.
Yana Honcharuk, Research Assistant
Yana is from Kyiv, Ukraine and received a B.A in Neuroscience from Kenyon College. Previously she worked in the Mokalled Lab, studying spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish. Before that she worked in the Petersen lab studying PNS development and myelination. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, exploring the city, working out and reading.
Aaron Bhattachan, Northeastern co-op student.
Aaron is a Nepali-American from Katy, TX and a candidate for a B.S. in Bioengineering and Biochemistry at Northeastern University with a minor in Mathematics. Aaron previously studied spatial configurations of charge based drug delivery in hopes of developing a bioelectrostatic nanocarrier that can target osteoarthritis inflammation sites. He is now interested in how circadian rhythms affect brain development, function, and degeneration at the cellular level. He is fascinated with unraveling the intricate mechanisms governing protein-protein interactions within the Central Nervous System (CNS) to then enhance cognitive memory, learning, and our understanding of neuroplasticity. In his free time he enjoys soccer, playing piano, and uploading sensationally subpar comedy skits to Youtube.
Sarah Visconti, Northeastern co-op student.
Sarah is from White Plains, NY and is a candidate for a B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience at Northeastern University with a minor in Music. She previously completed a co-op at Massachusetts Eye and Ear studying the structure and function of FREM2 proteins in stereocilia within Fraser syndrome mouse models. Sarah enjoys gymnastics, playing flute, and trying new vegetarian recipes in her free time.
Lab Alumni
Engie Mostafa, former Research Assistant and lab manager, now PhD candidate @Dartmouth University
Mallory Caron, former Research Assistant and Lab manager, NSF grad fellowhip awardee, now PhD candidate @Tufts University
Jessica Brooks, MS, graduate student, Harvard Medical School
Kevin Hochstrasser, MD, former Research Assistant, now Neurologist at Washington University St Louis
Lara Boyle, MD, PhD, former Research Assistant, Columbia University, now Psychiatry resident at UPenn
Fortunate Chifamba, MPH, former Research Assistant and Graduate Student Fellow, now Infection Preventionist at Providence Alaska Medical Center
Tenley Archer, PhD, former post-doc , now Director of Biology at Biomea Fusion
Elizabeth Mahoney, former Research Assistant, now at NanoString Technologies
Hannah Hawks-Mayer, former Research Assistant, now Neuroscience PhD candidate, Boston University
Jonathan Handy, former Research Assistant, now PhD candidate Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Kevin Zhang, former Research Assistant and Lab Manager, now MD/PhD candidate, Vanderbilt University
Melissa Roe, former BHCC summer research intern, Columbia University
Benjamin Weinberg, former undergraduate co-op student, Northeastern University
Lyric Gonzalez, former undergraduate co-op student, Northeastern University
Eliza Eaton, former undergraduate co-op student, Northeastern University
Waka Okuda, former undergraduate co-op student, Northeastern University
Ilaria came to the Lipton Lab after her brief post-doc experience in Margherita Maffei's Lab in Pisa where she investigated therapeutic strategies to enhance neuronal plasticity in obesity. Ilaria’s work in the Lipton Lab pioneered invesitagations of BMAL1 in synapses and its role in gating synaptic plasticity. Ilaria in her free time loves to swim and play piano, she also performs areal silk for the Commonwealth Circus Center in Boston. Ilaria is currently a Group Leader at the University of Milan.