Elena Levi-D'Ancona

Elena hails from the suburbs of Chicago, but travelled down south to New Orleans to get her B.S. in Biochemistry from Tulane University. While she enjoyed her time there, she is relieved to exchange the fiery climate for Michigan's more temperate summers. During her time at Tulane, she worked in a pancreatic endocrinology lab studying type I diabetes. In 2019, she joined the Immunology Graduate Program and works in Dr. Scott Soleimanpour's lab. Elena is planning on completing the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Certificate program.

I study the role of innate immune signaling in pancreatic beta cell stress responses and mitochondrial function.

Flow cytometry, cell culture, qPCR, western blot, Islet cell isolations, animal experiments

Phi Beta Kappa 2018

Tulane University Dean's List 2014-2018

Outside of the lab, Elena enjoys reading, cooking, petting every dog she sees, and coming up with mediocre puns.