Research Opportunities
CNST students may participate in neuroscience research throughout their medical school career. The greatest research opportunities occur in the summer between the first and second years of medical school and in the 12- to 24-week period of "Scholarly Pursuit" during the final 18 months of the medical school curriculum. The CNST serves as a conduit for the wealth of research opportunities at Penn by providing CNST students with information on faculty research programs, as well as funding sources for stipend support. CNST mentors also can provide guidance for CNST students to participate in clinical shadowing experiences starting in the first year.
Stipends are $4,000. In order to be eligible you cannot have additional sources of summer support.
Click HERE for the Application Announcement for Summer Research 2024
Deadline: February 14, 2024
Previous CNST Summer Research
If you are interested in CNST Summer Research, you are welcome to contact previous CNST Summer Research students for their guidance.
2023
Jacob Jensen — Jacob.Jensen@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Impact of 17q21 structural variation on neuro-relevant phenotypes"
Mentor: Michael Gandal, MD, PhD — Psychiatry
Ian Ong — Ian.Ong@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "An atlas of iEEG features across sleep stages for localizing seizure onset"
Mentor: Brian Litt, MD — Neurology/Bioengineering
Patrick Liu — Patrick.Liu@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Activity differences and genomic variants in chronic fatigue syndrome"
Mentor: David Raizen, MD, PhD - Neurology
Mackenzie Castellanos — Mackenzie.Castellanos@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Regulated supplementation of interneurons in cortical organoids"
Mentors: Isaac Chen, MD - Neurosurgery
2022
Daksh Chauhan — dash.chauhan@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "AI-Automated Segmentation of Lumbar Spine Neural Compression"
Mentor: Neil Malhotra MD — Neurosurgery
Brendan Ho — brendan.ho@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Polygenic Risk Impacting Substance Use and its Treatment"
Mentor: Hank Kranzler MD — Psychiatry
Melissa Li — melissa.li@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Audio-Visual Impairment and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Dementia"
Mentor: Ali Hamedani, MD, MHS - Neuro-ophthalmology
Ayan Mandal — ayan.mandal@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Neurodevelopmental Trajectories Linked to a High-Risk Giomagenesis Gene"
Mentors: Aaron Alexander Bloch, MD, PhD — Psychiatry
2021
Hasan Ahmad — Hasan.Ahmad@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Discriminating Motor Intention and Movement Through Differential Periodic and Aperiodic Contributions to Beta Desynchronization "
Mentor: Timothy Lucas Jr, MD, PhD, MHCI — Neurosurgery
Antonio Corral-Tarbay — Antonio.CorralTarbay@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Amino Acid-targeted Fluorescent Dye for Improved Image-guided Glioma Resection"
Mentors: John Lee, MD / Stefan Harmsen, PhD — Neurosurgery / Radiology
Evan Iliakis — Evan.Iliakis@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Impact of Nrxn1α Mutation on Motor Patterns and Striatal Projection Neuronal Activity in Mice"
Mentor: Marc Fuccillo, MD, PhD — Neuroscience
Kiran Raja — Kiran.Raja@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Does Motor Imagery Priming Improve Learning Rate on a Robot-based Motor Execution Task?"
Mentors: Michelle Johnson, PhD — Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
2020
Lillian Chien — lillian.chien@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Computational modeling of sensitivity to somatosensory thalamic and cortical microstimulation"
Mentor: Andrew G. Richardson, PhD — Neurosurgery
Elizabeth "Ellie" Sell — elizabeth.sell@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Microbial Metabolite Succinate Activates Tuft Cells in the Sinonasal Epithelium "
Mentors: Noam A. Cohen, MD, PhD — Otorhinolaryngology
2019
Austin Borja — Austin.Borja@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Correlating 18F-NaF Uptake in the Carotid Arteries with Global 18F-FDG Uptake in Normal Controls and Patients with Cardiovascular Risk Factors"
Mentor: Abass Alavi, MD, PhD, DSc — Radiology
Timothy Cox — timothy.cox@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Pharmacological Targeting of α-Synuclein Signaling in Parkinson’s Disease"
Mentors: Virginia M-Y Lee, PhD and Farés Bassil, PhD — Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research
Grace NG — Grace.Ng@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Modeling the Spread of Tau Pathology Using Anatomical Connectivity and Genetic Expression Data"
Mentor: Danielle S. Bassett, PhD — Bioengineering
Clare Teng — wanming.teng@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Image-Guided Resection and Local Treatment with ICG-and Photosensitizer-Coated SPION (IPS)Nanoclusters for Glioblastomas"
Mentor: John YK Lee, MD, MSCE — Neurosurgery
2018
Phillip Bradshaw — Phillip.bradshaw@uphs.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Semantic Coherence in Adjective-Noun Pairs in Patients with Semantic VariantPrimary Progressive Aphasia"
Mentor: Murray Grossman, MD, EDD — Neurology
Mitchell Johnson — Mitchell.Johnson@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Evaluation of current surgical indications for cervical instability in Down Syndromepatients"
Mentor: Patrick J. Cahill, MD — Orthopaedic Surgery
Neil Luu — Neil.Luu@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Identification of Cholinergic Chemosensory Cells in Sinonasal Epithelial Cells"
Mentor: Noam A. Cohen, MD, PhD — Otorhinolaryngology
Elana Meer — elana.meer@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Evaluation of Improvements in Visual Field Defects after Hemispherectomies"
Mentor: Stacy L. Pineles, MD — Ophthalmology
2017
Lillian Chan — Lilian.Chan@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Primary Open-angle Glaucome Genotype-Phenotype Study"
Mentor: Joan O’Brien — Ophthalmology, University of Penn/Scheie Eye
Caroline Chung — Caroline.Chung@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Analyzing Genetic Risk in Non-amnestic Variants of Alzheimer's Disease"
Mentor: Murray Grossman — Neurology, University of Penn
Christine Farrell — Christine.Farrell@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "An Analysis of CSF Studies and Conditions Associated with Oligoclonal Bands and their Implications for Guiding Further Diagnostics and Treatment"
Mentor: Christopher Perrone (PGY3 Resident) — Neurology, University of Penn
Natalie Neale — Natalie.Neale@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "An Investigation of Cognitive Decline and Neurodegeneration in Down's Syndrome"
Mentor: Shahid Zaman — Psychiatry, University of Cambridge [England]
Philip Williams — Philip.Williams@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Elucidating the Role of Iron Dysregulation in Age-related Macular Degeneration using Single-cell Transcriptomic Analysis of Ferroportin Knockout Mice"
Mentor: Joshua Dunaief — Ophthalmology, University of Penn
2016
Savannah Aepli — Savannah.Aepli@uphs.upenn.edu
Project Title: "ICU Patient and Family Experiences of Recovery After Injury"
Mentor: Meghan Lane-Fall, MD, MSHP, Anesthesiology & Critical Care
Prateek Agarwal — Prateek.Agarwal@uphs.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Injectable Hydrogel for Intervertebral Disc Regeneration in a Goat Animal Model"
Mentor: Neil R. Malhotra, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosurgery
Nadir Bilici — Nadir.Bilici@uphs.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Human Cortical Organoid Transplant into V2 Cortex of the Rat"
Mentor: Han-Chiao Isaac Chen, MD, Neurosurgery
Steve Cho — Steve.Cho@uphs.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Targeting Folate Receptors to Visualize Pituitary Adenomas"
Mentor: John Y.K. Lee, MD, MSCE, Neurosurgery
Makayla McCoskey — Makayla.Mccoskey@uphs.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Association between Cognitive Impairment and Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma Using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment"
Mentors: Victoria Addis, MD and Joan O'Brien, MD - Department of Ophthalmology
Mark Morales — Mark.Morales@uphs.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Measures and Predictors of Varenicline Adherence in the Treatment of Nicotine Dependence"
Mentor: Robert Schnoll, MD, Department of Psychiatry
Peter Schwab — Peter.Schwab@uphs.upenn.edu
Project Title: "Intraoperative Cortical Stimulation and DTI Tractography"
Mentors: Dr. Ragini Verma, Radiology and Dr. Timothy Lucas, Neurosurgery
2015
Christine Bierema — Graduated
Project Title: "Change in Level of JC Virus Antibodies as a Result of Natalizumab (and other therapies) in Multiple Sclerosis Patients Over Time"
Mentor: Eric Williamson — Neurology, University of Penn
Yohannes Ghenbot — Graduated
Project Title: "PennBMBI: A Neuroprosthetic for Unilateral Facial Paralysis"
Mentor: Timothy Lucas — Neurosurgery, University of Penn
Christopher Corbett — Graduated
Project Title: "Developing Automated Segmentation of Periventricular Leukomalacia in MRIs of Neonates with Severe Congenital Heart Defects"
Mentor: Sudha Kessler — Pediatric Neurology, CHOP
David Lerner — Graduated
Project Title: "Structural Changes of Mitochondria in Presence of Soluble Amyloid-beta"
Mentor: Dara Dickstein — Neuroscience, Mt. Sinai Icahn SOM
Charles Santos — Graduated
Project Title: "Modulation of Ggamma Ocillations to Remediate the Cognitive Deficits of Schizophrenia"
Mentor: Bruce Turetsky, MD — Psychiatry, University of Penn
Sharon Cimarron — Graduated
Project Title: "Quartered Point Scoring System for Periventricular Leukomalacia in Children with Congenital Heart Disease"
Mentor: Daniel Licht — Pediatric Neurology, CHOP
2014
Student: Michael Chua — Graduated
Project Title: “Socioeconomic and Genetic Risk Factors for Primary Open Angle Glaucoma in Philadelphia African Americans”
Mentor: Joan O’Brien, MD – Professor of Ophthalmology
Student: Peter Nogueira Hadar — Graduated
Project Title: “Use of Novel GluCEST Neuroimaging Technique in Lateralizing Foci in TLE Patients”
Mentor: Kathryn Adamiak Davis, MD – Assistant Professor of Neurology
Student: Lauren Miller — Graduated
Project Title: “Intentional Partial Coiling of Plex Intracranial Anerurysms: Long Term Radiographic and Clinical Outcomes”
Mentor: Michelle Smith, MD – Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
Student: John Peters — Graduated
Project Title: “Exploring the Pathogenesis of Multiple System Atrophy”
Mentor: John Trojanowski, MD, PhD - Professor Geriatric Medicine & Gerontology
Student: Alan Workman — Graduated
Project Title: “CALHM1-Mediated ATP Release and CBF Modulation in Airway Epithelial Cells”
Mentor: Noam Cohen, MD, PhD – Associate Professor of Otorhinolaryngology
Student: Yingcheng (Elaine) Xu — Graduated
Project Title: “Influences of Short-Term Light Deprivation on Trigeminal Sensory Thresholds”
Mentor: Richard L. Doty, PhD – Professor of Otorhinolaryngology
2013
Student: Keisha Dodman — Graduated
Project Title: “Remediating Long-Term Effects of Ketamine Exposure in Mice”
Mentor: Steven J. Siegel, MD, PhD – Professor of Psychiatry
Student: William Kennedy — Graduated
Project Title: “Assessment of Olfactory Function in Pediatric Patients with Chronic Tracheostomy”
Mentor: Steven E. Sobol, MD – Associate Professor of Otolaryngology CHOP
Student: Eric Lin — Graduated
Project Title: “Effects of Alpha-synuclein Immunotherapy in a Mouse Model of Parkinson’s Disease"
Mentor: Virginia M.-Y. Lee, PhD, MBA - Professor in Alzheimer’s Research Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Student: Catherine Norise — Graduated
Project Title: “Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Elucidates Mechanisms of Recovery from Non-fluent Aphasia”
Mentor: Roy Hamilton, MD, MS – Assistant Professor of Neurology
Student: Andrew Olsen — Graduated
Project Title: “Use of Topical Vancomycin Powder Prophylaxis in Craniotomy: A Retrospective Review of X Cases”
Mentor: Timothy H. Lucas, Jr., MD, PhD – Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
Student: Stephen Tsaur — Graduated
Project Title: "Response Inhibition and Smoking Urges in Smoking Cessation Study”
Mentor: Becky Ashare, PhD – Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry