Our Research Team

Marlee Anderson

Hi, my name is Marlee Anderson and I am a junior Psychology major on the Pre-medicine track! I am interested in cancer research and recently finished a project evaluating the behavioral and neuroinflammatory effects of stress on female mice. 

Luis Vega

My name is Luis Vega and I am a senior Biology major. I plan on graduation in may 2024 and purse a PhD. I'm interested in exploring the role of the immune system during disease onset specifically how we can re-program our defenses to better understand and fight diseases. 

Matthew Folh

My name is Matthew Folh, and I am a sophomore Science Research Fellow on the premedical track. I spent time in my first year at Baylor conducting introductory research in biology and laparoscopy, which ultimately sparked my interest to join the PNI lab. In pursuing a career in medicine, I hope to continue researching various health conditions and how they impact the human body.

Kaylea Gawf

Hi, my name is Kaylea Gawf and I'm a junior Neuroscience major! I'm very interested in researching the interactions between physical health conditions and mental health conditions, such as the links between diabetes and depression.

Avery Gillet

Hi! My name is Avery Gillett and I am currently a junior studying Cell and Molecular Biology with a Spanish minor. I am interested in all things cancer research and will happily spend hours pipetting!! 

Madilyn Johnson

My name is Madilyn Johnson, and I am a junior medical humanities major with a minor in economics on the pre-med track. My research interests include studying anxiety and depressive like behavior in response to stress and hyperglycemia. My favorite aspects of working in the Vichaya lab are the collaborative nature of our lab and the variety of research skills we use in preclinical research. 

Julia Latocha

Hey everyone! My name is Julia Latocha and I am a Junior Biology major who will be graduating in December 2024. I am very interested in nutrition and how diet and exercise affects our health. Being able to also learn about how stress and depression tie into our health has been very cool and eye-opening!

Grace Read

Hi everyone! I’m Grace Read and I’m a junior honors neuroscience major with a minor in forensic science. I am currently pre-med and I am hoping to apply to a program that offers a joint MD/PhD degree! I am very passionate about research into hyperglycemia and increasing the scientific literature surrounding sex differences. 

Grace Summers

Hello! My name is Grace Summers, and I am a junior neuroscience major with minors in biology and business administration. My research interests lie in how diet may influence the inflammatory tone of the body in response to disease and consequently, alter the function of the brain. I am also interested in how exposure to stressors may exacerbate disease progression and functional changes in the brain, and whether there may be an interaction(s) between stressors, diet, and activity level as it relates to managing the disease progression. 

Mia Tarantino

Hi! My name is Mia Tarantino, and I am a senior neuroscience major with a minor in biochemistry. My research investigates the relationship between chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment, brain senescence, and mitochondria. I am also interested in the APOE4 genotype's effect on microglial lipid accumulation and how this may affect the development of chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment.

Joyce Wang

My name is Joyce Wang, and I’m a sophomore University Scholar with a neuroscience concentration and a biochemistry minor. I’ve been in the PNI lab since January 2023. This past summer, I completed 10 weeks of research on CAR T cell therapy as a summer student at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. I enjoy learning about the fascinating field of neuroimmunology, as well as immunology in general!