Postdoctoral Research Fellows:
Chanpreet Kaur, MD., PhD. Joined in 2026
Muskan Gupta, PhD. Joined in 2025
Avantika Ahiya, PhD. Joined in 2024. 
Sanofi Award for Outstanding Translational Research by a Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Society for Neurochemistry annual meeting in 2026. Presentation at the international conference Frontiers in Neuroscience, Prague, 2026.
Alumnus: KaReisha Robinson, PhD. 2021-2025. IRACDA Fellow (4 year funding and professional development award toward a career in teaching and research with emphasis on traditionally underrepresented groups in science). John Foster Wallace Diversity Award (2024). Selected for oral presentations at the American Society of Neurochemistry (2023) and North American Vascular Biology Organization (2023). Currently: Adjunct Professor Department of Natural Sciences Olive-Harvey College; University Lecturer Division of Science, Math, and Technology.
Graduate Students:
Ali A. Almousawi. Joined the University of Illinois at Chicago Graduate Education in Bio-Medical Sciences PhD program with, research concentration in Microbiology, Immunology, & Inflammation with Dr. Lutz in 2023. Thesis Project: Caveolin-1 contributions to blood-brain barrier permeability in COVID-19 and Long COVID. Awards received as a graduate student include the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Travel Award (2023 and 2024). Previously, Ali was an undergraduate student volunteer in the Lutz lab, earning a double major in Neuroscience and in Biomedical Visualization and awards including: Chancellors Undergraduate Research Award. Honors College Research Grant Recipient. Silver Medal Award for Undergraduate Poster Presentation in the University of Illinois Research Forum.
Melissa Ortiz. Rush University Master’s Program in Medical Laboratory Sciences. Thesis project: Role of Wnt/beta-catenin in blood-brain barrier permeability in a mouse model of vascular dementia. Joined the Lutz lab as a Master’s student in 2026. Previously, was an undergraduate student Las Ganas Research Fellow in the Lutz lab, garnering awards including the Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research Presentations at the 2024 Autumn Immunology Conference.
Alumnus: Troy N Trevino, PhD. University of Illinois at Chicago Graduate Education in Bio-Medical Sciences, research concentration in Neurobiology. Graduate student in the Lutz lab from 2019-2023. Thesis Project: The role of Caveolin-1 in transcellular and paracellular brain endothelial cell permeability to autoreactive T cells in neuroimmunologic disease. Awards received include: Dean’s BioMedical Scholar Award (2021-2022). T32 Training Grant in Vascular Biology and Signal Transduction (2020-2021). International Conference Platform Presentation (International Brain Barriers Meeting at Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 2023). Poster awards: UIC Center for Cardiovascular Research CCVR Research Day 2019 (Second place), 2020 (first place).
International Scholars: We’ve been fortunate to have a series of outstanding collaborations with international laboratories, and have hosted multiple international scholars.
2026-2027 Ms. Sabrina Pereira da Conceição. Home institution: the Laboratory of Immunopharmacology, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ). Previously, she completed her Master’s degree at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, with an emphasis on Neurophysiology and Psychopharmacology, through the Graduate Program in Biosciences. Project: Potential therapeutic value of targeting Caveolin-1. Recipient: Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel CAPES/BRASILLINOIS FELLOWSHIP.
2026-2027 Ms. Danielle Cunha Teixeira. Home institution: Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. Project title: Mechanisms of age-related susceptibility to NeuroPASC related to brain endothelial cell transcriptional deregulation. Recipient: Doctoral Sandwich Program Abroad (PDSE) award, and the Global CAPES PDSE program.
2023-2025 Dr. Remy Martins-Goncalves obtained his PhD in 2026 from the Laboratory of Immunopharmacology at FIOCRUZ/ Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He conducted two years of doctoral research in my lab in Chicago. Thesis project: Vascular thrombosis and cerebrovascular inflammation in COVID-19/Long COVID. Awards received during his time in the Lutz lab include: Multiple Sclerosis Travel Award (2024); Theresa Kipnis Award for Overall Best Student Presentation at the Brazilian Society for Immunology Annual Meeting (2025)
Undergraduate and post-graduate Students:
2017-2018 Jenson Phung. Spent one year in my lab post-baccalaureate. He then went to University of Minnesota Medical School and is now a practicing physician in Minneapolis, MN.
2018-2019 Elizabeth Pietruczyk. Undergraduate student at Benedictine University, BS in Biology Fall 2017 and spent one year in my lab post-baccalaureate. Subsequently: Univeristy of Illinois College of Nursing.
2018-2019 Andrea Ochoa-Raya. Graduated with Distinction for her research in our lab and with Honors for her GPA, with a BS in Neuroscience from UIC. She received prestigious fellowships supporting her research in the Lutz lab: The Latin@s Gaining Access to Networks for Advancement in Science (L@S GANAS) program at UIC, a LASURI fellowship for summer 2018 research, was selected for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Travel Award to present her research at a national conference in 2019, and received a Poster award at the Laboratory for Integrative Neuroscience annual symposium. She joined the UIC GEMS program with Dr. Nancy Freitag and successfully defended her PhD thesis in 2026.
2018-2019 Mary Grace Horne. BS in Biology with Distinction for laboratory research and GPA. Winner of the David E. Featherstone Award. Currently working as Research Technician in the Department of Physiology.
2018-2019 Harrison Frederick. Honors College Research Fellow. Chancellors Undergraduate Research Award. LASURI fellowship recipient.
2018-2020 Bhoomi Desai. Honors College Research Fellow.
2018-2021 Vidya Babu. Graduate Professional Program Admissions: Medicine. Honors College Research Fellow. LASURI fellowship recipient.
2020-2022 Quinton Crisman. Honors College Research Fellow. LASURI fellowship recipient.
2021-2022 Ali Almousawi. Double major in Neuroscience and in Biomedical Visualization. Chancellors Undergraduate Research Award. Honors College Research Grant Recipient. Silver Medal Award for Undergraduate Poster Presentation in the University of Illinois Research Forum.
2022-2023 Paola Castro, Las Ganas Research Fellow
2022-2024 Genesis Abad, Honors College Research Fellow. Biological Sciences Highest Departmental Distinction. Louis Pasteur Award for exceptional undergraduate research project and oral defense. Spent a gap year working full time in the Lutz lab and started medical school in 2026 at the Unviersity of Illinois Peoria College of Medicine.
2023-2025 Melissa Ortiz, Las Ganas Research Fellow, Bios 399 Independent Research Program; Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research Presentations at the 2024 Autumn Immunology Conference. Currently pursuing a Masters degree in the Lutz lab.
2024-2026 Saleem Elalami, Bios399 Independent Research Program
2026-present Geraldine Nunez-Salazar, Las Ganas Research Fellow
2026-present Megana Yarramaneni, Bios 399 Independent Research Program
Christmas party 2019
MS Walk Chicago Spring 2019
Autumn Immunology Conference 2023
Lab trip to the Field Museum of Natural History 2024
Holiday party 2025
Lab lunch 2023
Lab dinner 2026
Sarah E. Lutz, Ph.D.
Dr. Lutz opened her lab in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at UIC in 2017. Dr. Lutz obtained her Ph.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY in 2010 and completed postdoctoral training at University of California, Irvine and Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Her undergraduate degree is in Neuroscience from Pomona College, Claremont, California. She trained with Dr. Dritan Agalliu (Columbia, UCI), Dr. Sunil Gandhi (UCI), and Drs. Eliana Scemes, Celia Brosnan, and Cedric Raine (Einstein). Her work has been recognized with funding from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the NIH and the Stereology Resource Center, and presentation awards from University of California Riverside Center for Glial Neuronal Interactions and the Institute of Immunology at University of California Irvine. She has taught courses including Cell Biology, Modern Techniques in Neuroscience, Stem Cells in Society, and Effective Mentoring of Undergraduate Students in the Research Lab.
