BIOGRAPHY:

Melisa joined the lab in January 2024 as lab manager and chief neuroscientist. She oversees the day-to-day operations of the lab, leads laboratory research in cancer neuroscience, and provides support and guidance to fellow lab members.

Melisa's academic background includes cellular and molecular biology with a degree in Biotechnology, obtained in Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina.
Melisa holds a Ph.D. from The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at Tel Aviv University. Her doctoral research centered on examining the regulation of protein synthesis and mitochondrial function in the brain, particularly in the context of a neurodegenerative disease known as "Vanishing White Matter (VWM) disease".

Melisa undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the Mitochondria and Cell Metabolism Institute at the University of Washington (UW). During her postdoctoral research, she delved into investigating mitochondrial dysfunction in cardiomyocytes under stress.