Laura Sichlinger

Laura received her PhD in Neuroscience from King’s College, London, in 2023 under the supervision of Prof. Deepak Srivastava and Dr. Anthony Vernon. Throughout her PhD, she pursued her interest in uncovering the neurodevelopmental and neurobiological basis of psychiatric conditions by applying a CRISPR/Cas9-based approach to assess the role of a very robust genetic risk factor for psychosis in synaptic formation of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived developing cortical neurons. Building on her background in synaptic development and gene editing, Laura is excited to join Dr. Elizabeth Heller’s lab to investigate the regulatory mechanisms of two synaptic genes, SYNGAP1 and STXBP1, to develop novel therapeutics for treating rare neurodevelopmental disorders related to these two genes. If not at the bench, Laura can be found practicing yoga, travelling, or out on the town.