Meet the Bloggers

Hello iJOBS community,

Over the pandemic I have realized something – I’m a people person.  Since middle school I knew that I excelled in group settings, but the reason why wasn’t clear until now.  Group settings allow dynamic thinking at a faster rate than when alone.

Hi! My name is Gina Sanchez, and I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Weinstein Lab. We study the roles of T follicular helper (Tfh) and Germinal Center (GC) B cells in the development of autoimmunity, specifically Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. My project aims to understand what allows GC B cells with self-reactive B cell receptors to exist and expand, bypassing the tolerizing selection process that exists within the GC.

Hello everyone! My name is Monal Mehta, and I am finishing the 4^th year of my PhD in Neuroscience at Rutgers University. I have actually been contributing to the Rutgers iJOBs blog since 2017, but am just now finally getting around to writing a post introducing myself! Time has really flown by since I arrived at Rutgers in 2015. My interest in the brain was sparked when I was young, before I even knew the field of neuroscience existed.

Edited by Helena Mello & Eileen Oni [caption id="attachment_2871" align="aligncenter" width="300"] My Master's graduation ceremony, May 2009[/caption] One of the sayings I remember the most from my elementary education is a French proverb that translates to: “little by little, the bird makes its nest”.

Hello iJOBS community, My name is Deepshikha Mishra. I recently joined iJOBS blog as a writer and I am very excited to be a part of it. I am a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. After completing my Ph.D. in India, I moved to US to pursue my postdoctoral research. Biology has always fascinated me since my school days.

Meet the Bloggers By Andrew Petryna How many melancholy short biographies have you read that were written by academically confused undergrad students still fumbling through the world of Organic Chemistry and Physics? Add another tally to the count because you’re about to meet Andrew Petryna. I am a second year student in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences. Like many students on the pre-med track, I am double majoring in two things that I was told would help me on the MCATs— Psychology and Biological Sciences.

Meet the blogger – Madhuri Bhagavathula Hello Readers, Welcome to my Blog!!! I am Madhuri Bhagavathula, a fourth year PhD. candidate at Rutgers -School of Graduate Studies (SGS), Newark campus. The stellar role of microbes on this planet has always been undeniable. Microbes and their interaction with their host, especially humans, have always been my subject of interest. I pursued a master’s degree in Biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania following my bachelor’s degree in India. UPENN has served as an excellent place to gain knowledge and experience.

Hello iJOBS blog readers, my name is Helena Mello! I am a 4^th year Ph.D. student at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences Newark Campus, working with Dr. David Lukac. My research focuses on autophagy and herpesvirus reactivation from latency.

My name is Vicky Kanta, a Ph.D. candidate at the Center of Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers-Newark. I grew up in Athens, Greece, where I developed my passion for science and research. Ever since I was in my first biology class in middle school, I knew I wanted to study neuroscience. I was fascinated by how neurons work and was amazed at how much we don’t know about our brain. I could already envision myself working in the lab and attempting to answer great questions. When I reached college, however, I learned that majoring in neuroscience is not offered in Greece.