Meet the Interns

2026 Science Communication Interns

SDB welcomes our five 2026 SciComm Interns.  

Mikayla Eppert

Mikayla Eppert

Mikayla is a 5th-year doctoral candidate in the Genes, Development, and Disease graduate program at UT Southwestern. In Dr. Benjamin Sabari’s lab, she studies how cells switch on the right genes at the right time by locally concentrating transcriptional machinery into dynamic assemblies called condensates. Her work has revealed that the switch-like formation of these condensates enhances gene activation and drives cardiovascular lineage specification. Originally from Iowa, Mikayla earned her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Spanish at the University of Iowa, where her interest in research first took root. There, she studied the mechanisms that ensure accurate chromosome segregation during meiosis in C. elegans. As an SDB Science Communication intern, Mikayla is excited to share her passion for biology beyond the lab. She hopes to combine her research experience with storytelling to inspire curiosity and excitement about science in others.
Brenda Paredo Loredo

Brenda Pardo

Brenda is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Di Talia Lab at Duke University. Her research focuses on how biochemical and mechanical signals integrate to drive cytoplasmic reorganization during early embryogenesis, using the fly embryo as a research system. She finds that the most rewarding aspect of her research is capturing time-lapse images of the developing embryos, which she then quantifies to generate data visualizations. These are the exciting moments when patterns become clear and ideas take shape.  Brenda’s interest in developmental biology began as an undergraduate researcher in Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado’s Lab at Stowers Institute. There, she studied the complete regeneration of adult eyes in the snail Pomacea canaliculata, a new research organism for studying how organs are restored to their correct size and shape during regeneration. Brenda is motivated to take an active role in science communication. Her goal is to enhance public understanding of the significance of science, while also conveying the excitement and enjoyment it offers, experiences she deeply values through her own work. She also aims to use her writing to inspire students toward STEM career paths. Outside of the lab, she enjoys cooking with her partner and supporting her local minor-league baseball team.
Liam Russell

Liam Russell

Liam is a 5th year Ph.D. candidate in the Molecular and Cellular Biophysics program at the University of Denver. Prior to graduate school Liam studied pure physics, and uses that background to approaches biological questions through a quantitative and multidisciplinary lens. His research involves biophysical assessment of epithelial morphogenesis during Drosophila gastrulation, focusing on the ways coordinated cell shape changes create and regulate tissue-level topologies. Liam is a computational specialist who creates original, cutting-edge quantitative techniques for bulk processing and analysis of large 4D confocal microscopy data sets. As a proud transgender man, Liam has a passion for bringing folks from all backgrounds with him into the joyfulness of science, and to that end has been recognized by his institution as an outstanding undergraduate educator for both STEM and non-STEM majors. Outside of science, Liam is an arts and crafts lover, and you can regularly find him knitting through seminars and lab meetings.
Ninadini Sharma

Ninadini Sharma

Ninadini is postdoctoral fellow in Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz' lab at the California Institute of Technology. 
Kate Windsor

Kate Windsor

Kate is a third-year PhD candidate in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. In Dr. Mukhopadhyay’s lab, Kate investigates how environmental manganese exposure contributes to developmental motor disease. Their research bridges toxicology and neuroscience, with a focus on understanding how early disruptions to brain development shape long-term motor outcomes. She has presented this work to scientific peers and middle-school and homeschooled students and enjoys adapting complex ideas for very different audiences. Originally from Austin, Kate earned a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and Spanish with a minor in Religion at Trinity University in San Antonio before returning home for graduate school. At UT Austin, Kate developed a science communication radio show which combined interviews with academic and industry scientists with themed music. She also wrote a series of editorials for the university newspaper, focusing on issues relevant to STEM graduate students. When not writing or researching, Kate enjoys hosting music jams with their partner, voice acting for her friend’s podcast Memory Static, spending time with their three cats, and critically analyzing the scientific accuracy of Star Trek.

2025 Science Communication Interns

SDB is delighted to welcome our five 2025 SciComm Interns.  Continue scrolling to learn more.
headshot of Raisa Bailon-Zambrano

Raisa Bailon-Zambrano

Raisa is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Craniofacial Biology at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, in the laboratory of Dr. Jamie Nichols. Raisa earned her Ph.D. in the same lab studying appendage establishment, development, and evolution. For her thesis work, Raisa worked on a new zebrafish insertional mutant with dorsal fin loss. She developed a passion for science writing (and birdwatching) after reading Richard Prum's "The Evolution of Beauty". Alongside her research and writing pursuits, Raisa is committed to increasing access to STEM careers for aspiring scientists. She has been an active member of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) chapter at Anschutz campus. Through SACNAS, she has participated in many outreach efforts towards the Hispanic community in Aurora, Colorado. In her spare time, Raisa enjoys biking, swimming, and reading poetry.

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headshot of Samantha Fernandes

Samantha Fernandes

Samantha is a 4th year Ph.D. Candidate in the MCB program at the University of Washington in Seattle. As part of Jeff Rasmussen’s lab, Sam uses the zebrafish model to study how sensory axons in the skin regenerate. She uses fluorescent imaging to watch how skin heals and becomes reinnervated after injury in real-time. Originally from Miami, Samantha completed her Bachelor’s in Biological Sciences at Florida International University. Here, Sam had her first research experience studying the most dangerous animal in the world, mosquitoes with the DeGennaro lab. Sam has worked with a variety of research models, including cell culture and X-ray crystallography, however, her favorite has always been model organisms. Especially zebrafish, as she enjoys how their potential microscopy allows her to be a photographer capturing the natural beauty of cells. One of Samantha’s greatest drives is to share the wonder of science with the public. She hopes to devote her career to helping translate the discoveries made by scientists into concepts that even those without an academic background can still appreciate. Outside of the lab, she enjoys the tranquility of the National Forests and hopes to explore the many unique locations across the U.S.

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headshot of Caroline Halmi

Caroline Halmi

Caroline is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in Dr. Lisa Taneyhill’s lab at the University of Maryland. Using the chick embryo, her research focuses on the interactions between placodal neurons and neural crest cells during the formation of cranial sensory ganglia, and how cell adhesion molecules mediate these interactions. Before starting her graduate studies, Caroline earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Pennsylvania State University. During her undergraduate years, she participated in research that helped her acquire laboratory skills and took several developmental biology courses, both of which deepened her interest in cranial development. Caroline is excited to be an SDB Science Communication intern, where she aims to enhance her ability to communicate complex scientific concepts to general audiences. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, experimenting with new recipes, and exploring hiking trails with her dog, Tobi.

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headshot of Cindy Ow

Cindy Ow

Cindy is a 3rd-year PhD candidate in the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology program at the University of California, San Francisco. As a member of Dr. Mustafa Aydogan’s lab, she studies the biological principles of organismal time control in Drosophila embryos. Cindy grew up in the little red dot of Singapore, before completing her bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Johns Hopkins University with a minor in music. It was there where she first encountered the wonders of developmental biology through her professors while studying histone inheritance in C. elegans embryogenesis in Dr. Xin Chen’s lab. She arrived in San Francisco and joined the Aydogan lab with hopes of working at the interface of cell and developmental biology. Cindy firmly believes in science communication as key to promoting the importance of fundamental discoveries in basic science. In her first year, she joined UCSF’s weekly student newspaper Synapse as a writer, before serving as editor-in-chief. She also enjoys engaging with science outreach, teaching third graders in classrooms through UCSF’s Science & Health Education Partnership (SEP). In her free time, she enjoys playing the viola, attending indie/classical music concerts, and spending time with her cat.

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headshot of Violet Sorrentino

Violet Sorrentino

Violet is a 6th year PhD candidate and GRFP fellow in the Molecular and Cellular Biology program at the University of Washington, Seattle. As a member of Dr. Aakanksha Singhvi’s lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, she uses C. elegans to understand how regulation of membrane phospholids instructs glial pruning of neuron endings. Her interest in developmental neuroscience was sparked as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, where she looked at migrating neurons in the developing zebrafish hindbrain with Dr. Vicky Prince, and continued during her time as a technician studying synaptic partner choice in fruit flies with Dr. Robert Carrillo.  Violet has been passionate about scientific storytelling since her time as a high school intern at a medical oddity museum and believes in a world where scientific knowledge is accessible to all. She currently serves on the board of directors for UW Engage, a program dedicated to providing trainees with the skills needed to communicate science to the public effectively. When she’s not at the bench, Violet is practicing her pottery skills, doing a crossword puzzle or playing fetch with her cat.

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2024 Science Communication Interns

SDB is delighted to welcome our five 2024 SciComm Interns.  Continue scrolling to learn more.
headshot of Prableen Chowdhary

Prableen Chowdhary

Prableen is a 6th-year Ph.D. candidate in the Brewster lab at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County studying early brain development and cell adhesion in zebrafish embryos in response to metabolic cues. She completed her undergraduate education at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she earned a Bachelor's in Biochemistry and a Bachelor's in Physiology and Neurobiology. Prableen is currently a G-RISE Meyerhoff Fellow supported by the NIH to increase minority representation in STEM Ph.Ds and also manages her lab's zebrafish facility. She is not only dedicated to the lab work performed at the bench, but is a strong believer that the advancement of biomedical sciences is dependent on communicating science effectively to the public and policymakers and she is passionate about pursuing a future career advocating for science. Outside of the lab, she spends much of her time rock climbing, spoiling her cat and dog, trying new recipes, and reading fiction novels.

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Andrew Montequin

Andrew Montequin

Andrew is a Ph.D. student in the Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences program at Northwestern University and a member of Professor Carole LaBonne’s lab. His thesis work focuses on using quantitative microscopy techniques to study neural crest specification in Xenopus laevis embryos. After growing up in Texas, Andrew attended Caltech where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering. He has since found a home in America’s midwest, residing with his human and feline partners in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. He enjoys exploring the city on foot, bike, bus and train when the weather is nice, and staying home and reading the rest of the time. While at Northwestern, Andrew has developed science writing skills through coursework as well as writing about exciting preprints as a preLighter for The Company of Biologists. He is an active member of the Science Policy Outreach Taskforce, participates in regular book clubs on science policy topics, and tutors students through the Northwestern Prison Education Program.

headshot of Aiden Howenstine

Aidan Howenstine

Aidan is a 6th year Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Karen Sears’ lab at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research interests are centered around phenotypic variation and the various constraints that may act upon it. Aidan’s thesis work studies the role of gene network topology in generating variation throughout the development of the mouse limb. Aidan earned a BSc in Biology at McGill University in Montreal, where he was introduced to Evolutionary Development. His interest in EvoDevo conveniently led him to abandon the winters of Canada for Los Angeles, where he joined the Sears lab. He developed an interest in writing in his first years of graduate school, which blossomed into a passion once he joined UCLA’s graduate writing center as a writing consultant. Aidan’s free time is spent primarily on and below climbing walls.

headshot of Sarah Petrosky

Sarah Petrosky

Sarah is a Ph.D. student in Mark Rebeiz's lab at the University of Pittsburgh. She uses the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to investigate the genetic and developmental underpinnings of an adaptive trait. She received her Bachelor's degree from Roanoke College in Salem, VA, where she worked under Dr. DorothyBelle Poli to investigate the flammable spores of the plant running cedar, Lycopodium digitatum. While at Roanoke, Sarah joined the Dragon Research Collaborative (DRC), a transdisciplinary research team comprised of biologists, historians, artists, and literary scholars, among others. Her work with the DRC inspired her to pursue a minor in Literary Studies. As a graduate student, Sarah works with the Genetics Society of America as a part of their Early Career Leadership Program on the Multimedia Subcommittee, which produces the podcast Genetics in Your World. These experiences motivated Sarah to pursue a career in science communication. She is incredibly passionate about making science accessible to the general public, and she loves engaging in scientific discovery with people at all levels through outreach and teaching. Aside from her scientific interests, Sarah is a lifelong bookworm, and she loves to sit outside on a nice day while reading a good book.

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headshot of Samantha Stettnisch

Samantha Stettnisch

Sam is a 5th year Ph.D. candidate in the Molecular and Cellular Biology program at Stony Brook University and is a member of the Dr. Benjamin Martin lab. Her thesis work focuses on dissecting the relationship between cell cycle arrest and progenitor cell differentiation and morphogenesis in vertebrate development. Sam leverages the powerful zebrafish model and confocal microscopy to investigate her research interests. Long Island born-and-raised, she graduated from Farmingdale State College with a bachelor’s degree in Bioscience. While pursuing her graduate studies at Stony Brook, she has expanded her science communication ventures through classes at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and outreach programs such as Letters to a Pre-Scientist. Outside of the lab Sam loves reading witchy novels, binge-watching Gilmore girls, and spending time with her fiancé, guinea pigs, and dogs.

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2023 Science Communication Interns

We are thrilled to announce the inaugural Society for Developmental Biology Science Communication Interns.

Lydia Grmai

Lydia Grmai

Lydia is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Cell Biology at the University of Pittsburgh, in the lab of Dr. Deepika Vasudevan and jointly mentored by Dr. Kafui Dzirasa at Duke University School of Medicine. Lydia’s long-term research goal is to utilize the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to model reproductive regulation from a systems biology perspective. She earned her Ph.D. at NYU School of Medicine studying sexual identity maintenance in Drosophila spermatogenesis. She conducted postdoctoral research in the lab of Dr. Mark Van Doren, where she characterized the role of sex-specific steroid hormone signaling in Drosophila gonad development. Alongside her research pursuits, Lydia is committed to increasing access to biomedical research careers for aspiring scientists. To this end, she broadly engages in outreach and communication efforts, especially toward communities historically excluded from STEM disciplines. In her free time, Lydia can be found singing, crocheting, or propagating one of her many plants.

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Andrew Montequin

Andrew Montequin

Andrew is a Ph.D. student in the Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences program at Northwestern University and a member of Professor Carole LaBonne’s lab. His thesis work focuses on using quantitative microscopy techniques to study neural crest specification in Xenopus laevis embryos. After growing up in Texas, Andrew attended Caltech where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering. He has since found a home in America’s midwest, residing with his human and feline partners in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. He enjoys exploring the city on foot, bike, bus and train when the weather is nice, and staying home and reading the rest of the time. While at Northwestern, Andrew has developed science writing skills through coursework as well as writing about exciting preprints as a preLighter for The Company of Biologists. He is an active member of the Science Policy Outreach Taskforce, participates in regular book clubs on science policy topics, and tutors students through the Northwestern Prison Education Program.

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Brittany Truong

Brittany Truong

Brittany is a 6th year Ph.D. student in the lab of Dr. Kristin Artinger at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. For her thesis work, Brittany is studying the role of a transcription factor, PRDM1, in limb development and a congenital limb disorder called Split Hand/Foot Malformation (SHFM) using zebrafish as a model. Brittany aspires to be an editor for a renowned journal in developmental biology or molecular biology. As an SDB Science Communication Intern, she is most looking forward to directly learning from an SDB writing mentor, highlighting research articles, and sharing new discoveries with both researchers and a more general audience. In her spare time, Brittany enjoys hiking with her dog and practicing yoga.

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2023 Honorable Mentions

We are also excited to acknowledge the following individuals for their exemplary applications. These SDB Science Communication Honorable Mentions will work with our faculty writing mentors to write the stories they pitched on topics related to developmental biology.

Ana Maria Carmo

Ana Maria Carmo

Ana Maria is currently in the 4th year of her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto, where she studies collective cell movements during wound healing in the fruit fly embryo. She previously got her Masters in Biological Engineering from Técnico Lisbon, in Portugal, where she is originally from. Ana Maria decided to trade the mild sunny weather of Portugal for the long cold winters of Canada. She (still) loves the snow in the city, and her favorite thing about Toronto is the abundance and diversity of restaurants. In her free time, she likes to crochet, re-watch her favourite animated movies, and go for walks in the city while drinking bubble tea.

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Azelle Hawdon

Azelle Hawdon

Azelle is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Zenker Group at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI), Monash University, Australia. Her research uses advanced live imaging technologies to decipher the spatiotemporal dynamics underlying early mouse embryo development. Previously, Azelle received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Western Australia. She then continued her studies completing a Graduate Diploma of Reproductive Science at Monash University in 2018. Pursuing her passion for developmental biology, Azelle commenced her professional career at the University of Sydney, participating in research projects focused on assisted reproductive technologies and genome editing in preimplantation embryos. Azelle is a strong advocate for science outreach and communication. She is a representative for the Scientists in Reproductive Technology (SIRT) and Society of Reproductive Biology (SRB) Committees. Furthermore, Azelle acts as the Social Media Ambassador for ARMI, an initiative that aims to heighten the impact of research shared between the public and the broader scientific community. Azelle is honoured to have been considered for the SDB Science Communication Internship. She is excited to utilise this experience to support her peers with their research careers and to aid SDB to communicate informative and engaging content to developmental biologists and the public.

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Katherine Inskeep

Katherine Inskeep

Katherine Inskeep is a graduate student in the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital/ University of Cincinnati Molecular and Developmental Biology doctorate program completing her dissertation at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Dr. Stottmann’s lab. Katherine studies a gene that causes microcephaly and cerebellar hypoplasia in human pediatric patients, using mice and human induced pluripotent stem cells to reveal why this gene is influential for brain development. Katherine attended the University of Notre Dame for her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry. During that time, she volunteered at a children’s respite care facility which inspired her to attend graduate school to study rare pediatric brain disorders. Outside the lab, Katherine enjoys reading, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and rock climbing.

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Niveda Udaykumar Vellore

Niveda Udaykumar Vellore

Niveda is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Prof. Jonaki Sen's laboratory at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. She did her Bachelor's in Microbiology, Zoology and Chemistry at St. Joseph's College of Arts and Science, Bangalore and her Master's in Applied Microbiology at the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Tamil Nadu. Her venture into Developmental Biology was accidental and her current research interest is to identify novel molecular targets involved in chick forebrain morphogenesis. Outside the laboratory, Niveda likes to play basketball, explore new places, read novels and comics, and write short essays/stories/articles.