PhD Student, Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
PhD Student, Pak Laboratory
Research Interests: Long-term potentiation (LTP), synaptic plasticity, molecular mechanisms underlying learning and memory, neurodegeneration, mitochondrial regulation
Advisor: Dr. Daniel Pak
Rotations: Alexey Ostroumov, Kathleen Maguire-Zeiss
Prior Education: University of Maryland Baltimore County, BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; University of Iceland, MS in Medical Life Sciences
Lara Stefansson (she/her/hers) is a PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN). She is currently under the mentorship of Dr. Daniel Pak, where she utilizes immunofluorescent imaging to study the localization patterns of synaptic CREB following induction of long-term potentiation (LTP). While her main project aims to characterize phosphorylated CREB in the synapse, she is also interested in investigating the role of CREB-mediated regulation of mitochondrial DNA.
Prior to joining the IPN, Lara earned her BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She then went on to gain an MS in Medical Life Sciences from the University of Iceland. Her background also consists of internships at MedImmune/Astrazeneca and Fuzbien Technology Institute, where she coauthored two papers. Following in MS degree, Lara joined Alvotech, a company that produces biosimilars, as a Bioassay Scientist. There, she became the Subject Matter Expert on host-cell DNA quantification.