TEAM ENCALADA

Sandra E Encalada, PhD

Principal Investigator
Arlene and Arnold Goldstein Associate Professor
encalada [at] scripps [dot] edu

Sandra is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine and an Investigator of the Dorris Neuroscience Center, and of the Neurodegeneration New Medicines Center at Scripps Research. She received her International Baccalaureate (I.B.) degree from the United World College - USA, and her B. A. from Earlham College in Physics with a minor in Biology. Sandra obtained her PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of Oregon, where she studied under the mentorship of Bruce Bowerman. She was a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow at UC San Diego in the laboratory or Larry S. B. Goldstein where she characterized the mechanisms of transport of the prion protein. She is the recipient of The Glenn Foundation Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, The Baxter Foundation Young Faculty Award, and The Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging Award. Outside of the lab, she enjoys swimming in the ocean, playing the piano, and picking bugs with her daughter.

Yin Wu

Postdoctoral Associate
yinwu [at] scripps [dot] edu

Yin is a graduate student in the Scripps Doctoral Program in Chemical and Biological Sciences. She completed her B.S. in Life Sciences at University of Science and Technology of China in the Special Class for the Gifted Young. For her Ph.D. research, she works in the lab of Sandra Encalada to study the mechanisms of tau aggregation in axons of mammalian neurons. In her spare time, she likes doing exercise, reading suspense novels and doing sudoku (the failure of which often results in tears).

Delany Rodriguez Lara, PhD

Staff Scientist/ Lab Manager
derodriguez [at] scripps [dot] edu

Delany F. Rodriguez, Ph.D., is a staff scientist and lab manager specializing in molecular and cellular biology, with a focus on prion disease, aging, vascular biology, and developmental biology.
Delany's academic journey began at the National Autonomous University of Morelos in Mexico, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology with honors. He furthered his education at New Mexico State University, obtaining a Master's in Molecular Biology, with his research focusing on the role of ion channels in sperm physiology. He then pursued his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at New Mexico State University, with research centered on the spatial regulation of cytokinesis in sea urchin embryos. Throughout his career, Delany held key research positions, including a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Santa Barbara, supported by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Notably, his work in the De Tomaso lab significantly advanced the understanding of germ cell development, vasculature dynamics, and aging in the ascidian Botryllus schlosseri. He then studied epigenetic changes and their effect on biological age in both mice and humans at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.
Currently, Delany is actively engaged in groundbreaking research, employing super-resolution microscopy to investigate the role of Prion proteins in disease. His work aims to unravel the intricate details of disease mechanisms at the molecular level, further enhancing our understanding of these complex processes. Outside of the lab, he loves surfing, snowboarding, hiking, and traveling around the world.

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Mariana Juliani do Amaral, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
mdoamaral [at] scripps [dot] edu

Mariana is a postdoctoral associate studying intracellular biomolecular condensates formed by the prion protein.

She received her B.S. in Pharmacy and M.S. in Chemical Biology (M.S. work PMID: 32142787). She completed her Ph.D. in the Biophysics and Biochemistry field in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Program at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ, Brazil) under supervision of Dr. Yraima Cordeiro. She did a Ph.D. research stay under supervision of Dr. Susanne Wegmann (DZNE, Germany) that complemented her in vitro studies showing that copper ions promote phase separation of the prion protein at the cell surface and modulates aggregation (Ph.D. work PMID: 37922348). Research interests include: (i) biochemical, and in cellulo characterization of biomolecular condensates drove by intrinsically disordered proteins and its modulators (RNAs, protein clients); (ii) understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying proteinopathies, and liquid-to-solid transition of aggregation-prone proteins related to neurodegenerative diseases. Outside of the lab, she loves travelling and being in contact with nature. She likes swimming and samba music. She makes a good caipirinha, and love family and friends gatherings.

Corinna Braun, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate
cbraun [at] scripps [dot] edu

Corinna is a postdoctoral associate specialized in molecular and cellular biology. She earned her B.Sc. in Molecular Mycology and both her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biology from Heinrich-Heine-University in Germany. Her research focused on the molecular interactions between obligate intracellular bacteria and host cells, particularly examining how chlamydial proteins influence cytoskeletal dynamics and establish their intracellular niche during infection. Corinna employed advanced imaging techniques, including super-resolution structured illumination microscopy and correlated light/electron microscopy, alongside deep-learning software for imaging and data analysis. Currently, in the Encalada lab, she is keen to apply these microscopy techniques to study prion disease in mammalian primary neurons. Outside the lab, she enjoys baking, traveling, gardening, and spending time with family and friends.

Grace Keogh

Laboratory Administrative Coordinator
gkeogh [at] scripps [dot] edu

ALUMNI

Graduate Students:
Tai Chaiamarit, PhD - Principal Investigator Mahidol University
George Campbell, PhD - Sr. Researcher at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Miguel Alves Ferreira, PhD - Clinical Scientist and Invited Auxiliary Professor at School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS), University of Porto.

Postdoctoral Fellows:
Adriaan Verhelle, PhD, Business Development Manager at OHMX.bio
Nandini Shukla, PhD, postdoctoral researcher UCSD
Adeola Adeyemo, PhD, Technical Support Scientist at Advanced Cell
Diagnostics
Romain Chassefeyre, PhD - Project/Team Leader at Evotec, France
Sylvia Neumann, PhD - Project Scientist and Lab Manager, UCLA
Erin Greiner, PhD - Territory Account Manager, Illumina, San Diego

Assistants:
Nirvan Rouzbeh, Doctoral Graduate Student, University of Montana
Diana Gonzales, Research Assistant at DKFZ German Cancer Research Center
Jesse Holt
Andrew Huang
Cynthia Cho
Leena McCann, Senior Scientist at Cepheid

Undergraduate Students:
Desi Martin
Phil Frankino
Krystal Lawrence