Natalie Barretto (Graduate Student) is a PhD student in the Neurobiology and Behavior program at Columbia University. She joined Dr. Hemali Phatnani’s lab in January 2022, where she will be utilizing optical screens to examine the role of genes associated with neurodegenerative diseases in microglia. Natalie received her BS in Neural Science from New York University in 2017 and MSc in Biomedical Science from Mount Sinai in 2019. Natalie completed her master’s thesis in Dr. Kristen Brennand’s lab, where she optimized an inhibitory differentiation protocol in neural progenitor cells to study cell-type specific neurexin 1 alpha splicing. Outside of lab, Natalie enjoys cooking, hiking, biking, a good cup of coffee, and bossa nova.