Our Team
Amber L. Alhadeff, ph.d.
principal investigator
Alisha Acosta received a B.S. in Biochemistry at Rowan University. She joined the Alhadeff Lab in 2020 and is investigating gut-brain signaling and the hindbrain control of food intake.
Alisha Acosta
Research Technician
Milena is an undergraduate at UFSC in Florianópolis, Brazil, currently working as a Research Technician in the Alhadeff Lab. She joined the lab in Fall 2022 and is interested in the neural control of metabolism and feeding behavior.
Milena Almeida
research technician
Sam received his B.A. in Neuroscience from the University of Virginia, and his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland where he worked in the lab of Dr. Donna Calu examining the role of endocannabinoid signaling in Pavlovian Learning. He is interested in how signaling in homeostatic and reward centers drives feeding behavior.
Sam Bacharach, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Ryan is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania. He is research is investigating interactions between food and drug reward.
Ryan Burns
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Misgana received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. She joined Penn NGG as a Ph.D. student after three years of performing research on the neural control of feeding behavior in the lab of Dr. Harvey Grill. As a rotation student in the Alhadeff Lab, Misgana is interested in how different diets influence neural activity and behavior.
Misgana Ghidewon
Graduate Student, Penn NGG
Elizabeth received a B.S. from Rowan University. She joined the lab in 2022 and is managing the lab’s transgenic mouse colony.
Elizabeth Gold
Research Technician
Nick Hanchak is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the Alhadeff Lab in Spring 2021 and is studying how hindbrain neurons promote satiation.
Nick Hanchak
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Dr. Kuei-Pin Huang received his Ph.D. in Physiology from UC Davis, where he worked with Dr. Helen Raybould examining the role of vagal afferent leptin signaling in energy homeostasis. In the Alhadeff Lab, he is interested in gut-brain effects on in vivo neural activity.
Kuei-Pin Huang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Aaron Mcknight received a B.S. in Biology from Shippensberg University of Pennsylvania. Aaron joined the Alhadeff Lab in September 2019 where he is investigating the mechanisms through which gut signaling influences hypothalamic neuron activity, as well as the effects of hunger on peripheral inflammatory responses.
Aaron McKnight
Graduate Student, Penn NGG
Miliani is a first-year student at Drexel University. She joined the lab in Summer 2021 as an MSAP student, and after starting college, joined the Alhadeff Lab as an Undergraduate Research Assistant interested in how sugars impact neural activity and behavior.
Miliani Smith
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Alex Vargas received her B.A. in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. She began performing Neuroscience research with Dr. Alhadeff in June 2018 studying the effects of alcohol and nutrients on hunger neurons. Currently, Alex is researching gut-brain pathways and their influence on neural activity and behavior.
Alex Vargas
Research Technician
Joe is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the Alhadeff Lab in Summer 2023 and is interested in interactions between homeostatic and reward signaling.
Joseph Wahba
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Alhadeff Lab Alumni
Nathaniel Nyema was a Research Technician in the Alhadeff Lab from 2020-2022. He is currently a Ph.D. student in Neuroscience at CalTech.
Nathaniel Nyema
Heather Schneps was an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Alhadeff Lab from 2020-2023. She is currently a postbac in the Khaliq lab at NINDS.