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Lab Staff

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Paola Giusti-Rodriguez, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Dr. Giusti-Rodriguez earned her BS in Biology at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras. She completed her PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology at Harvard University, where her doctorate research focused on studying the molecular basis of neurodegeneration. Her postdoctoral research was conducted at UNC Chapel Hill, where she studied antipsychotic side effects through mouse populations.

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Luz M. Porras, Ph.D

Post Doctorate Fellow

Dr. Porras obtained her PhD in Genetics at the University of Barcelona-Spain, where she focused on programming and machine learning, developing pathogenic predictors. Her focus has been on experimental laboratory, particularly in molecular and cell biology. One of her contributions in the lab include the standardization of protocols for bioinformatic genetic analysis.

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Curtis Dearing

Graduate Research Assistant

Curtis is from Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was a part of the Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program at Vanderbilt University working with genetics and most recently finished his second graduate rotation in Dr. Sai Zhang’s lab exploring the intersection between genomics and AI. Curtis currently works as the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab's main research assistant, handling new protocols and facilitating a lot of the hands-on research in the lab. 

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Christian Williams

Undergraduate Research Assistant & FWS Participant

Christian Williams is a third-year Health Science major on the Pre-Med track. He is currently involved with some of the lab's significant projects, one being single-cell split pool recognition. In addition to being a researcher, he is part of the University of Florida's competitive Speech and Debate team, traveling to places such as Nashville, Tennessee, and Rome, Georgia, to compete in national tournaments. After completing his undergraduate degree, he plans to get admitted into top medical schools through an MD or MD/Ph.D. program, with neurology as a top specialty choice. 

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Alicia Gleacher

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Alicia is a Biology student at the University of Florida in her third year. She is also involved in another research project with Lilian Hendrick currently using metabarcoding to analyze biodiversity in Gainesville's microlepidoptera. She is maintaining some of the social media presence of the lab, as well as helping with general upkeep and wet-lab duties. This semester, she is taking a central role in one of the lab's main projects focusing on intron deletions. 

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Laura Lopez

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Laura is a third year undergraduate student studying Biochemistry on the pre-med track. She is working on multiple projects at the lab including the COVARIS pilot, cell culturing, and the RDT project. She plans to become a Gynecologist/Obstetrician.

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Alex Zhong

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Alex is a second year undergraduate student double majoring in Biochemistry and Computer Science. He plans to use computational methods to analyze how structural variants impact the 3D structure of the genome, which can lead to neurological conditions. Ultimately, he hopes to contribute to building a model to predict which structural variants should be prioritized in experimentation. Beyond research, Alex is on the Underwater Hockey Club and the Honors Chords singing ensemble at the University of Florida. 

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Vivek Ramroop

Undergraduate Research Assistant & Hazardous Waste Manager

Vivek is a third year undergrad at UF majoring in Biology with a Minor in Anthropology. He hails from Georgetown, Guyana and works with two non-profits when he's not working with bioinformatics in the lab. He also works on the lab's social media presence among his other lab duties. He plans to pursue a career in medicine and hopes to specialize in pediatric surgery. 

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Savina Patel

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Savina is a third-year Health Science student on the pre-med track. She is currently involved in the RDT pilot study project. In addition to conducting research at the lab, she also has volunteered it multiple lab departments at Shands Hospital and is currently volunteering in the NICU. She hopes to pursue a career in OB/GYN and possibly specialize in fertility medicine.

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Lauren Wong

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Lauren is a second year majoring in Microbiology with a minor in Education Studies. She’s passionate about neurological developmental disorders and finds biomechanics fascinating. She is on the scSPRITE wet-lab project and hopes to work with mice RDT. Outside of the lab, she enjoys writing, volunteering with kids, and thrifting. 

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Amanda Vorobyev

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Amanda is a sophomore studying Physics and Microbiology. She is working on the CACNA1C project to develop her culturing and computational skills. She is also helping with the lab's current review. Other than academics, she enjoys stargazing, drawing, and playing DnD.

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Jocelyn Correa

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Jocelyn is a second year undergraduate student majoring in Psychology/Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience and minoring in Nutritional Sciences as a Pre-Med student. She is currently involved in with some of the lab's significant projects, one being single-cell split pool recognition and also focusing on programming and machine learning with Dr. Porras. Beyond the lab she is a Certified Personal Trainer and likes to train for half and full marathons and weight-lift. She hopes to specialize in Forensic Psychiatry or Neurology. 

Audre Wells

Audre worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab during Summer 2025 as a SNIP student. 

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Elizabeth Wright

Elizabeth worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab during Summer 2023 - Spring 2025 as an Undergraduate Research Assistant and Bioinformatician.

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Catia Machy

Catia worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab during Fall 2024 - Spring 2025 as an Undergraduate Research Assistant.

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Adrian Concepcion

Adrian worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab during 2024 - Spring 2025 as an Undergraduate Research Assistant and Hazardous Waste Manager.

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Dorothy Coutu

Dorothy worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab during Fall of 2024 as an Undergraduate Research Assistant.

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Gabriel A. Iglesias Maldonado

Gabriel worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab from early 2022 to October 2024 as a Laboratory Manager and an Undergraduate Research Assistant.

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Gabriela Martinez

Gabriela worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab from February 2022 to August 2024 as an Undergraduate Research Assistant.

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Rachel Eloy

Rachel worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab from August 2023 to August 2024 as an Undergraduate Research Assistant.

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Chelsey Leveque

Chelsey worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab from August 2023 to August 2024 as a Post-Bacc Student.

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Isabelle Rodriguez

Isabelle worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab from January 2022 to June 2024 as an Lab Manager, Lab Technician, and Undergraduate Research Assistant.

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Emily Val Tulio

Emily worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab from Summer 2022 to June 2024 as a Lab Technician and Undergraduate Research Assistant.

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Julian Tobon

Julian worked at the Giusti-Rodriguez Lab from January to October 2022 as a Lab Technician and Undergraduate Research Assistant.

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