Shakira Acosta is an undergraduate student at Vanderbilt University studying Cognitive
Studies and Human and Organizational Development. She has previously worked as a
billing clerk at a company specializing in coffee solutions and machines, and beforehand
had previous experience working in customer service. Shakira is also a HSF Scholar, an
Illinois State Scholar, and recipient of the Illinois Seal of Biliteracy.

James Martinez is a Research Assistant II in iCore at the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center. He completed a B.S. in Cell Biology from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and an M.S. from Lipscomb University. His graduate research at Lipscomb University focused on Necrotizing Enterocolitis and the involvement of the Unfolded Protein Response pathway.

Dr. Ravera received her M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Turin, Italy, and her Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. During this time, she learned a great deal about the structure and function of membrane proteins to investigate the mechanism, localization, and regulation of phosphate transporters in the kidney. During her post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Gary Rudnick in the Department of Pharmacology at Yale, she gained experience with bacterial transporters and developed skills in the purification and reconstitution of membrane proteins such as LeuT. In 2012, she became a member of the laboratory of Dr. Nancy Carrasco in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale to work on the Na+/I- symporter (NIS), a protein of significant physiological and medical relevance. She studied the optimization of a viral vector for gene therapy using NIS as a reporter gene. She characterized NIS's binding, expression, and purification for structural studies and ultimately determined the 3D structure by cryo-EM. 

Lynn joined the Crowe lab in 2022. Previously, she spent sixteen years in the Roden lab at VUMC studying differences in cardiac ion channel expression and function using transgenic mice and cardiomyocytes induced from pluripotent stem cells. Lynn received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University. 

Gabriel Herndon is an application developer in the VVC.  Gabriel has worked in the film and technology industry.  He uses his creative and technological outlook to create computer and mobile applications to make people’s lives and workflow easier and more efficient.  He is interested in design, machine-learning, and in-depth comprehension of users’ interactions.

Ty Sornberger is a graduate student in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology at Vanderbilt University, mentored by Dr. James E. Crowe, Jr. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 2020 with a B.S. in Immunology & Infectious Disease and a B.S. in Pharmacology & Toxicology. His undergraduate research compared the pathology of a novel influenza D virus to established human influenza A, B, and C viruses in human lung cells. Upon graduation, Ty worked in the Pennsylvania State University COVID-19 Testing and Surveillance Center (TASC), running clinical diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2 and assisting with research projects involving SARS-CoV-2 and High-Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI). Ty entered Vanderbilt University through the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program (IGP) in Fall 2021 and joined the Crowe Lab in Spring 2022. His current research focuses on isolating and characterizing human antibodies against influenza viruses.

Ekta Anand is an undergraduate research assistant at the Crowe Lab. She is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University majoring in Communication of Science and Technology, and currently works under the mentorship of Dr. Iuliia Gilchuk on her projects surrounding antibody response. Ekta is also involved in Project CURE and serves as the editorial director for The Vanderbilt Hustler. She hopes to attend medical school and apply her understanding of immunology and antibody function.