Congratulations to our undergraduate students for presenting their awesome, productive summer work at the Summer Undergraduate Research Fest (SURF) 2026 – Daniel Palus, Amina Ali, Noelle Harris, Hareem Malik, Nicolas Llobet!
June 2026
Congratulations, Dr. Claudia Gualtieri and Dr. Fernando Vonhoff for publishing a JoVE video article covering the CaMPARI technique to study synaptic connections in developing Drosophila. Click here to watch the full video & read the article: https://hubs.ly/Q04s6ZWx0
Antonio Marini-Davis, Justine Anne Guevarra, and Emmanuelle Palmieri (from the Sutton Lab) presented their individual projects at the Annual Genes, Brain, and Behavior Meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Great job, Antonio, Justine Anne, and Emmanuelle!
Justine Anne won a GSA Travel Grant award. Congratulations!
May 2026
As the graduation season comes to an end, we celebrate two incredible scientists — Dr. Gualtieri and Dr. Smith! Claudia and Zach, thank you for your mentorship, kindness, hard work, and for setting such amazing examples in and out of the lab. We’ll miss you and we can’t wait to see all the great things ahead for both of you! Fly high!
Congratulations to all our spring graduates: Gelila Isayas,
Antonio and Justine Anne were the recipients of IBANGS Travel Award for the upcoming Genes, Brain, and Behavior Meeting. Congratulations to both of you!
Congratulations, Dr. Vonhoff for being the recipient of the 2026 Carl S. Weber Award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching! Well-deserved! We’re so proud of you!
Congratulations, Justine Anne, for being selected as one of the recipients of the CNMS Endowed Travel Award!
Congratulations to Justine Anne for being selected as the Graduate Student Spotlight of the Year!
March 2026
Congratulations on this incredible milestone, Zach! You crossed the finish line so brilliantly and we’re so proud of you! We’re excited to see you do greater things as a postdoc at Brown University. The future is bright, Dr. Smith!
Congratulations on your successful defense, Claudia! We couldn’t be prouder! And we’re so excited to see you reach higher heights as you explore the world. Science is better with you in it, Dr. Gualtieri.
February 2026
Congratulations
2025
Spring / Summer / Fall 2025
Congratulations to all our spring / fall graduates of 2025! –
Emmanuelle Palmieri (from the Sutton Lab) presented her work at the Drosophila Neuroscience Colloquium at the National Institute of Health (NIH). Great job, Em!
Check out our newest publications for the Vonhoff Lab at UMBC in Methods in Molecular Biology (DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4446-1_15); The Royal Society Open Science (DOI: 10.1098/rsos.242217); Biology (DOI: 10.3390/biology14091228)- Great work, Claudia Gualtieri, Zachary Smith, Antonio Marini-Davis, and Dr. Fernando Vonhoff!
Congratulations to our undergraduate students for presenting their awesome, productive summer work at the Summer Undergraduate Research Fest (SURF) 2025 – Mia Coon, Wania Mustafa, Ryan Addai, and Yonu Akanji!
Zachary Smith just got back from an amazing research experience at the Marine Biological Institute in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Together with Claudia Gualtieri and Dr. Vonhoff who taught a Neurobiology course at the institute. We’re so proud of you all!
Justine Anne Guevarra, Gelila Isayas and Sophia Conrad (undergraduates), and Adekemi Sobukunola (postbac) presented their individual projects at the Annual Drosophila Research Conference in San Diego, California. Great job, Justine Anne, Gelila, Shreya, and Adekemi!
Justine Anne won a GSA Travel Grant award. Congratulations!
2024
December 2024
Congratulations to all our graduates!
November 2024
ABRCMS
Congratulations, Claudia and Zach, for successfully presenting your 5th year talks! Keep up the great work! We’re so proud of you!
October 2024
SfN
Justine Anne won the GSA Research Grant award. Congratulations!
August 2024
Congratulations to our undergraduate students for presenting their awesome, productive summer work at the Summer Undergraduate Research Fest (SURF) 2024 – Munachiso Nkeonye-Mbaekwe, Enya Caballero, Gelila Isayas, Adithya Iyer, Eduardo Ramirez!
Claudia and Zach won the GSA Research Grant awards. Congratulations!
July 2024
Claudia Gualtieri just got back from an amazing experience at the Marine Biological Institute in Woods Hole, Massachusetts! Great job for expanding your research skills and experience. We’re so proud of you!
Antonio Marini-Davis presented his work at the Drosophila Neuroscience Colloquium at the National Institute of Health (NIH). Great job, Antonio!
January 2024
Zachary Smith presented his work at the Drosophila Neuroscience Colloquium at the National Institute of Health (NIH). Way to go, Zach!
Justine Anne won the GSA Research Grant award. Congratulations!
2023
November 2023
Congratulations to Justine Anne Guevarra for passing her prelim! The title of her project is “Investigating the Role of Amyloid Precursor Protein-Like in Aging-Dependent Degeneration in Drosophila melanogaster.” Great work, Justine Anne! We are proud of you!
September 2023
Congratulations to our undergraduate student, Inioluwa Oluseyi, for being chosen as the first recipient of the Thomas F. Roth Research Award! Keep up the great work! (News Article)
Our graduate students, Claudia Gualtieri and Zachary Smith, presented their work at the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) in Granada, Spain. Excellent job, Claudia and Zach! We’re so proud of you!
August 2023
Congratulations to our awesome undergraduate students for presenting their summer-long terrific work at the Summer Undergraduate Research Fest (SURF) 2023 – Munachiso Nkeonye-Mbaekwe, Shreya Singh, Sophia Conrad, Solom Harraz, Adekemi Sobukunola!
Claudia Gualtieri discussed her research with the members of the Colloca Lab at the University of Maryland Baltimore. Great work, Claudia!
July 2023
Dr. Vonhoff and graduate student, Zachary Smith, provided a “Little Library” to the kids of the Peace Park Camp in Catonsville. What an awesome way to reach out to the community and share science to the young ones!
June 2023
Antonio Marini-Davis officially joins the lab as a new Ph.D. student. Welcome, Antonio!
May 2023
Congratulations, Dr. Vonhoff, for being chosen as the recipient of the 2023 Black/Latine/x Excellence Award! We are so proud of you!
Congratulations, Claudia, for receiving the Best Poster Award at the MyDEV2023 Meeting at the University of Milan. Way to go!
Congratulations to all our senior undergraduates: Heba Bakry, Katrina Bucci, Anne Cecile Choutedjem Kamgue Nkamougna, Dina Hadj-Mabrouk, Joana Hernandez, Simeon Nelson, and Danielle Wilson!
Congratulations, Claudia, for being selected for the 2022 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award from the Department of Biological Sciences!
April 2023
Dr. Fernando Vonhoff and Claudia Gualtieri collaborated with Dr. Michelle Starz-Gaiano on a poster about teaching upper-level biology courses. They presented it at the 7th Annual Provost’s Teaching & Learning Symposium at UMBC. Cool stuff!
Congratulations to our undergraduates for their awesome presentations at URCAD – Simeon Nelson, Eva Stanley/Francesca Burton, Katrina Bucci, Christina Shrestha, Anne-Cecile Choutedjem. Great work everyone!
2022
December 2022
Claudia Gualtieri presented her work at the Drosophila Neuroscience Colloquium at the National Institute of Health (NIH). Way to go, Claudia!
November 2022
Check out our newest publication for the Vonhoff Lab at UMBC in the Frontiers for Young Minds Journal (DOI:10.3389/frym.2022.778999). Congratulations to Claudia Gualtieri; Zachary Smith; Abby Cruz; Crystal Parry; and Dr. Fernando Vonhoff!
Eva Stanley presented her poster at the 2022 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minorized Scientists (ABRCMS) in Anaheim, California. Great work, Eva!
Congratulations to Zachary Smith for passing his prelim! The title of his project is “Investigating the Role of Amyloid Precursor Protein-Like’s Intracellular Domain in Neuronal Development.” Great work, Zach! We are proud of you!
October 2022
Congratulations to our amazing mentor, Dr. Fernando Vonhoff, for being one of the recipients of the LHFA (Latino/Hispanic Faculty Association) award! What an honor to work with you!
September 2022
Congratulations to Claudia Gualtieri for passing her prelim! The title of her project is “Investigating the Roles of Candidate Autism Genes in Synaptic Pruning in Drosophila melanogaster.” Great work, Claudia! We are proud of you!
Check out our newest micropublication for the Vonhoff Lab at UMBC in the microPublication Biology Journal (DOI:10.17912/micropub.biology.000642). Congratulations to Naphtali Remy; Justine Anne Guevarra; and Dr. Fernando Vonhoff!
June 2022
Check out our newest publication for the Vonhoff Lab at UMBC in the Frontiers Journal (DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2022.702901). Congratulations to Adeola Oyeyinka; Mehul Kansal; Sean O’Sullivan; Claudia Gualtieri; Zachary Smith; and Dr. Fernando Vonhoff!
May 2022
Congratulations to all our senior undergraduates: Acha Akem, Cameron Anderson, Bailey Godwin, Malika Hiyam, Nneamaka Iwobi, Mehul Kansal, Fanny Morfin-Reyes, Adeola Oyeyinka, Crystal Parry, and Aris Stovall!
Congratulations to Katrina Bucci, Francesca Burton, Sera Chase, Simeon Nelson, and Christina Shrestha for receiving the URA award! Great job!
April 2022
Claudia Gualtieri presented at the national conference of the Genetics Society of America. Great job, Claudia!
We had 11 URCAD posters (Aris, Crystal, Laura, Fanny, Tim, Bailey, Nneamaka, Acha, Isabella, Danielle/Francesca/Eva, Christina/Omer). We are proud of you!
March 2022
Justine Anne Guevarra officially joins the lab as a new Ph.D. student. Welcome, Justine Anne!
Claudia won a GSA Travel Grant award while Zachary won the GSA Research Grant award. Congratulations!
Francesca Burton, Eva Stanley, and Danielle Wilson gave an oral presentation at the JHU Nu Rho Psi conference. Great job!
2021
September 2021
Check out our newest publication for the Vonhoff Lab at UMBC in the Journal of Developmental Biology (DOI: 10.3390/jdb9030026). Congratulations to Ziam Khan; Maya Tondravi; Ryan Oliver; and Dr. Fernando Vonhoff!
July 2021
Zachary Smith officially joins the lab as a new Ph.D. student. Welcome, Zach!
June 2021
The Vonhoff Lab has its first lab paper published! Congratulations to David Jalali; Justine Anne Guevarra (Towson University); Luz Martinez; Lily Hung; and Dr. Fernando Vonhoff!
DOI: 10.3390/ijms22137022
May 2021
Claudia Gualtieri officially joins the lab as a new Ph.D. student. Welcome, Claudia!
Congratulations to Aris, Bailey, Nneamaka, Fanny, Crystal, Tim, and Laura for receiving the URA award! Great job!