Tufts Boston Graduate Student Council

Hi All! The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Anti-Racist Working Group is looking for students, faculty, and staff to join our mission of working to become an anti-racist institution. This is a great opportunity to shape policy, think creatively, and have your voice heard. If you’re interested in joining, please email Alex Israel ([email protected]).

Let's welcome Samia Pratt, a new PhD student in the Neuro at JAX program!

My name is Samia Pratt and I go by she/her pronouns. I grew up in Rhode Island and am now living in Bar Harbor, Maine. I completed my undergraduate degree May of 2020 at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine with a BS in Neuroscience and a minor in Marine Biology. During my undergraduate degree, I worked with Dr. Geoffrey Ganter’s lab looking at thermonociceptive sensitivities in adult Drosophila melanogaster and how social experience and s*x may influence pain sensitivity. Also during my undergraduate degree I worked with Dr. David Mokler and Cally Gurley on the Peter J. Morgane Research Collection on the Cetacean Brain where we focused on curating and analyzing Dr. Peter Morgane’s work on the Cetacean brain. I also spent a summer working as a Student Research Assistant in Dr. Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne’s lab at Massachusetts General Hospital where I focused on detecting abnormal Stathmin-2 mRNA processing in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patient samples as well as in cells with TDP43 depletion. I’m mostly interested in working on mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases and cellular health at the Neuromuscular Junction.

Outside of science I love to cook, bake, read, listen to music, spend time outside and hike. I had a minor in Marine Biology so I love to walk around the beach and see what plants and critters I can find! Unfortunately we’re not able to spend a lot of time in Boston but I’ve had a lot of fun getting to know Bar Harbor and the surrounding area. It’s been a blast exploring around the island and spending lots of time in Acadia Park. I’m very excited to start and look forward to getting to know the students and faculty more!

Today we welcome Theresa Harvey, a PhD student in Neuroscience!

I grew up in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and I currently live in Watertown. I received my B.S. in Biochemistry from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 2018. After graduation, I worked at McLean Hospital in Dr. Darrick Balu's lab conducting basic neuroscience research. Working as a Technical Research Assistant under the guidance of Dr. Darrick T. Balu, I learned new behavioral, molecular, and biochemical laboratory techniques while expanding my appreciation for the conceptual basis of psychiatric disorders. I contributed significantly to ongoing projects that study the expression and localization of an enzyme, Serine Racemase (SR), as well as the transition of SR production from neurons to glia in traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). My contribution to the AD research and the localization of SR research in the lab led to co-authorship on two publications, one in the Neurobiology of Disease journal, demonstrating that neurotoxic astrocytes express SR in AD, and another in the Journal of Neuroscience, demonstrating dendritic and postsynaptic localization of SR and d-serine. From August 2020 to December 2020, I worked for Harvard Brain Tissue Research Center (HBTRC) at McLean Hospital, collecting RIN values for the brains at HBTRC and contributing to the 2020 genome project.

I am interested in studying neuron and glia interactions especially in relationship to inflammation and behavior. I also want to explore the transgenerational research in relation to psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Outside of the lab, I enjoy exploring nature by hiking, skiing, kayaking, biking, and camping. I also enjoy cozying up with a good book and scented candle. In my spare time, I like to dabble with painting and drawing.

My favorite part about Boston is the delicious food in the North End and Chinatown. I hope to explore more of these restaurants throughout my time at Tufts.