Jillian Saunders, MS
Graduate Student
Jillian received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University. As an undergraduate, she worked in the lab of Dr. Michael Akins, investigating local protein synthesis in Fragile X Syndrome. Additionally, Jillian completed two different cooperative education experiences with Charles River Laboratories as a behavior technician and with Dr. Yair Argon at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she studied the unfolding protein response. For her master’s research, Jillian worked in the labs of Dr. Catherine von Reyn and Dr. Denise Garcia. Her project investigated the morphological and transcriptional development of astrocytes during Drosophila melanogaster pupal development. After graduating, she continued as a research associate and followed up on her master’s work. Jillian is now pursuing her Ph.D. in Neurobiology and joined the Eroglu Lab in March 2025. Here, she hopes to investigate how astrocyte-neuron interactions function in psychiatric disease with a particular focus on serotonin-signaling and psychedelic-induced plasticity. Outside of the lab, Jillian is passionate about EDI in higher education and loves to travel, cycle, climb, and troubleshoot new gluten-free recipes!
Expertise
immunohistochemistry, confocal imaging, and RNAseq analysis
