Edith Brignoni-Perez - Alumna

Edith is a first-year graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Río Piedras in 2013 with a B.A. in Psychology. During her undergraduate studies, she worked in the Fear Learning Lab at the Medical Sciences Campus – UPR under the mentorship of Dr. Gregory J. Quirk. Edith research dealt with determining the neural circuits of active-avoidance expression in rats using pharmacological inactivation during a novel platform-mediated avoidance task. During the summer 2012 she examined the influence of acute stress on extinction recall in humans working under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth A. Phelps at New York University. After graduation, Edith completed her one-year Neuroscience Post-Baccalaureate fellowship in the Brodkin Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. She explored a glutamatergic role in the development of social behaviors in transgenic mouse models relevant to negative symptoms of Schizophrenia. Currently, Edith is interested in exploring how a psychiatric disorder or brain injury impairs cognitive processes associated with social interaction, such as language. In addition to her passion for research, Edith gets involved in several outreach efforts, such as: educational research collaborations with non-profit organizations, mentoring, teaching basic science units, and science-into-the-community initiatives. Beyond the academia, she dances, practices Capoeira, bikes, enjoys art exhibitions or festivals, watches films, and travels.

email: eb945@georgetown.edu