Who We Are

Eisch Lab Leadership

Amelia J. Eisch, PhD

Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)

Professor of Neuroscience, The University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine (PennMed)

Eisch Lab Director

Sanghee Yun, PhD

Assistant Professor Anesthesiology and Critical Care, CHOP

Eisch Lab Assistant Director

Current Instructors and Postdoctoral and Graduate Trainees

Grace L. Bancroft, UPenn Class of 2023 (Major: Neuroscience, Minor: Computer Science)

Undergrad project in Eisch Lab with Daily EL Mentor Sanghee Yun: Touchscreen-based assessment of cognition and mood-relevant behaviors in female and male mice

Research Fellow, Spring 2021, Summer 2021, 2021-2022 academic year

Undergraduate Researcher (NRSC 3999), 2022-2023 academic year

EL Research Technician starting September 18, 2023

Danielle Guez Barber, MD, PhD

Attending Physician in Child Neurology 

Instructor funded by the CNCDP K12

Past support: Neurology T32

Project: Sex differences in a mouse model for hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy: role of microglia

Lorianna M. Colón, PhD

CHOP Postdoctoral Diversity Fellow (check out her spotlight!)

Project: Early life sex differences in limbic and reward circuitry

Frederico C. Kiffer, PhD

CHOP Postdoctoral Diversity Fellow (check out his cornerstone piece!)

Past support: TRISH/NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship

Project: Effects of galactic cosmic radiation on translationally-relevant cognitive behaviors and response to social stress


Sofia Nicolayevsky, BS (Major: Psychology, Minor: Biology)

Team Barber Research Technician

Project: Sex differences in a mouse model for hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy: role of microglia


Ruthie E. Wittenberg, BA

PhD Candidate, Neuroscience Graduate Group (NGG

Member of the Dani Lab 

Project: Adolescent nicotine-induced enhancement of adult morphine-context associative learning: mediation by midbrain inhibitory circuits

Awarded a highly-competitive NIH/NIDA Individual Predoctoral NRSA Fellowship, 2021

Ruthie and her best friend, Hershey, from whom she gets all her best science ideas.

Current Eisch Lab Graduate Rotation Students

Nita Rome, BS (Weslyan, Majors: Neuroscience and French)

Project: Chronic non-discriminatory social defeat stress

Member, Neuroscience Graduate Group (NGG

PhD Rotation Student, Spring 2024

Daily Mentor: Sanghee Yun

Naomi S. Johnson, BS (University of North Carolina, Major: Neuroscience, Minors: Chemistry and African/African American Studies)

Project: Impact of early life bladder inflammation on later life behavioral and cognitive function

Member, Neuroscience Graduate Group (NGG

PhD Rotation Student, Summer 2023, Spring 2024

Daily Mentor: Fred Kiffer (2023), Sanghee Yun (2024)

Here's Maisie, Naomi's sweet puppy.

Current Eisch Lab Undergraduates 

(ordered by class year and last name)

CLASS of 2024

Harley A. Haas, UPenn Class of 2024 (Major: Psychology)

Overall Project: Touchscreen-based assessment of cognition and mood-relevant behaviors in female and male mice

Daily EL Mentor: Sanghee Yun

Research Fellow, Summer 2020, Spring 2021, 2021-2022 academic year, Summer 2022

PURM Fellow, Summer 2021

Undergraduate Researcher (PSYC 4998-9), 2022-2023 academic year

SUIP Fellow, Summer 2023

CLASS of 2025

Kaya S. Johnson, UPenn Class of 2025 (Vagelos Scholar, Biochemistry/Neuroscience Major)

Overall Project: Brain lesion assessment in a mouse model of perinatal hypoxia ischemia

Daily EL Mentor: Danielle Barber

MLS Vagelos Fellow, Summer 2023, 2023-2024 academic year

Amishi Mahajan, UPenn Class of 2025 (Vagelos Scholar, Biochemistry/Neuroscience Major)

Overall Project: Entorhinal Cortex-Hippocampal Circuitry: Stress and Memory Encoding

Daily EL Mentor: Sanghee Yun

Research Fellow, Summer 2022

Volunteer, 2022-2023 academic year

MLS Vagelos Fellow, Summer 2023

Elise Wallen-Friedman, UPenn Class of 2025 

Overall Project: Are you good at “Spot The Difference” games? Understanding the neural substrates controlling behavioral pattern separation

Daily EL Mentor: Sanghee Yun

PURM Fellow, Summer 2022

Volunteer, 2022-2023 academic year

Undergraduate Researcher (NEURO 3999), 2023-2024 academic year

CLASS of 2026

Sage Leland, UPenn Class of 2026

Overall Project: Cognitive and behavioral analysis in translationally-relevant mouse models of psychiatric and neurologic disorders

Daily EL Mentor: Sanghee Yun

Volunteer, Summer 2023

Volunteer, Summer 2023

Research Fellow, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

Ida Narli, Princeton Class of 2026 (Major: Neuroscience)

Overall Project: Brain lesion assessment in a mouse model of perinatal hypoxia ischemia

Daily EL Mentor: Danielle Barber

Volunteer, Summer 2023, Winter-Spring 2024

CLASS of 2027

This could be you! Send your CV (no page limit) to eischlab@gmail.com to start the conversation with Dr. Eisch.