Summer Scholars Spotlights 2019

Each year @BurkeNeuroSci invites extraordinary students from around the country to take part in cutting-edge medical research as part of a research team studying neural repair and restoration. Catch the Summer Scholars Spotlights to stay informed on the #SummerScience2019 happenings @BurkeNeuroSci.

Meet the 2019 Summer Scholars

Jeromy DiGiacomo

• Tell us about the university/college you are attending?
  I go to Williams College and I'm majoring in chemistry with minors in biochemistry and molecular biology, public health, and Spanish. I hope to pursue a medical degree after I graduate. I grew up in Wilton, CT.

• What are you working this summer at Burke Neurological Institute? 
  I am an undergraduate research assistant working in the Sahni lab for the summer. Specifically, I am investigating the regulation of two genes involved in the development of the corticospinal tract (CST). I am looking to see how certain transcription factors function to modulate the expression of these genes. More generally, this work aims to investigate how these genes are expressed to affect CST development so that those conditions might be replicated to regenerate damaged tissue. 

• What are your interests and passions?
  While I am extremely interested in the sciences, I also love to compose music, cook, and practice my Spanish. I want to maintain my fluency because I believe it is extremely important two speak Spanish as a doctor in the USA. I also have a passion for watching The Office!

• Tell us a fun fact about yourself!
  I am part of a marimba band called "Zambezi" that plays on (the only set of) chromatically-tuned Zimbabwean-style marimbas!

Michael Wong

• Tell us about the school you are attending?
  Tenafly High School; Computer Science; Mountain View, California

• What are you working this summer at Burke Neurological Institute? 
  I optimize our patients' eye data by writing programs that better classify their eye movements. I am currently a student researcher at Burke Neurological Institute. I have written Python programs that remove noise from our data to provide a better comprehensive vision test via the Curveball algorithm. I also hope to better classify eye movement patterns to provide better windows for vision testing. 

• What are your interests and passions?
  I love composing music and playing the piano to unwind from school. I also enjoy competitive programming, playing tennis, and reading. When I have a lot of time, I sometimes write and publish stories.

• Tell us a fun fact about yourself!
  I love fleeces!

Matthew Ponticiello

• Tell us about the school you are attending?
  Cornell University, Global and Public Health, Mamaroneck, New York

• What are you working this summer at Burke Neurological Institute? 
  I am a returning summer student/ research assistant in Willis Lab. This summer I’m working on a CMT project to better understand the underlying mechanisms of axon regeneration as they pertain to the acetylation of miro. In order to this I’ve been doing a lot of immunofluorescent staining as well as nerve sectioning.

• What are your interests and passions?
  Global health, travel, social justice and health equity.

• Tell us a fun fact about yourself!
  I love to fish and go to aquariums, when I was little I wanted to be a marine biologist.