People
Members of the Lab
Barbara Wroblewska, Ph.D., Associate Research Professor
Barbara earned her M.S. at the University of Warsaw and her Ph.D. in Neuroendocrinology in Poland. Her post-doctoral fellowship was on blood-brain barrier permeability at NINDS, NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. Following this, Barbara worked in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University for several years. In 1991, she became a member of the Neale Lab, eventually to discover that NAAG is an endogenous agonist of mGluR3 receptors. Barbara is actively involved in mentoring the undergraduate students in the lab. She enjoys traveling, sailing, and skiing.
Tomasz Bzdega, Ph.D., Associate Research Professor
Tom earned his M.S. in Plant Biochemistry at Warsaw Agricultural University and his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology at the same institution. His post-doctoral work was completed at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and National Institute of Mental Heath, NIH. In 1996, Tom came to work at Georgetown University in the Neale Lab. As an Associate Research Professor, he studies NAAG peptidases along with providing guidance for the many ongoing research projects in the lab.
Rafal Olszewski, Ph.D., Assistant Research Professor
Rafal is originally from Kielce, Poland. In February 2002, he achieved his Ph.D. in Genetics at the Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzebiec, Poland. After spending 9 months with the Neale Lab previously, he decided to come back to Georgetown for his post-doctoral fellowship. Currently, Rafal is involved several different research projects, including drug development for schizophrenia. He is interested in nature photography and hiking.
Laura Gehl, graduate student
Laura graduated from Yale University in 1999 with a degree in psychology. She worked as a high school biology teacher for two years before entering the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience at Georgetown. She loves camping, hiking, skiing, and cooking.
Iga Wegorzewska, undergraduate student ('04)
Iga was a Biology major and Georgetown Howard Undergraduate Research Scholar. She joined the Neale lab at the beginning of her freshman year, and her first project consisted of organizing and performing the behavioral tests on the mice as well as analyzing the change in expression of the mGluR3 receptors for this neurotransmitter in the knockouts. Iga then worked on her Senior thesis research project which focuses on how NAAG acts via the mGluR3 receptor to regulate cGMP levels in neurons and glia. Based on this research, Iga is co-author of two papers. Her experiences in the Neale lab have strengthened her drive to discover more about the field of neuroscience and convinced her to pursue a career as biomedical research scientist. Currently, Iga is a MD/Ph.D. student in the School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.
Noreen Bukhari, undergraduate student ('04)
Noreen was a Biology major and Georgetown Hughes Undergraduate Research Scholar. She tested the efficacy of one of our novel inhibitors of NAAG peptidases to reduce the schizophrenia-like behaviors elicited in an animal model of schizophrenia. Noreen is the co-author of a paper on this subject. Her other extracurricular activities include volunteering for GERMS (Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service), and working as a Teaching Assistant for Intro Biology students. Noreen currently is an MD/Ph.D. student in the School of Medicine at SUNY Stony Brook.
Olumide Ojeifo, undergraduate student ('04)
As a Georgetown Hughes Undergraduate Research Scholar, Lou was a biology major and philosophy minor in the College at Georgetown. He worked in the Neale Neurobiology laboratory from his first year onward and was supported by a grant from the NIH. Lou described this research as a seminal experience that sharpened his interest in merging medicine and research. Lou's research focused on his hypothesis that NAAG may be transported into cells by one of the known acidic amino acid transporters. His project employed many of the fundamental methods in in molecular biology including plasmid purification, transfection, and cell culturing. Lou is currently an MD degree student at Harvard University School of Medicine.
Victoria Rafalski, undergraduate student ('05)
As a Georgetown-Hughes Undergraduate Research Scholar and Biology major, Vicky worked in the Neale Lab beginning in her first year. She investigated the role of NAAG peptidase in the nervous system. Her initial research was aimed at determining if NAAG metabolism relates to pain perception and her thesis focused on the cloning and characterization of a second NAAG peptidase. Among Vicky’s adventures was studying abroad in fall 2003 at University of Melbourne, Australia. Vicky currently is a Ph.D. student in Neuroscience at Stanford University.
Michael DeStefano, undergraduate student ('05)
As a Georgetown-Hughes Undergraduate Research Scholar, Michael has worked in the lab every summer since freshmen year. His research on developing a better methodology for assessment of the G-protein response to activation of group II metabotropic glutamate receptors. Michael studied abroad for fall term, 2003, at University of Sydney, Australia. Michael is currently an MD student at Yale Uniiversity.
