Lab Members
Elizabeth Gerber – Principal Investigator
Liz is a psychiatrist and physician-scientist from Baltimore, Maryland. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Division of Behavioral Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received a M.D. and a Ph.D. in Human Genetics in the laboratory of Hal Dietz through the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). She also completed residency training in psychiatry at Johns Hopkins. Her postdoctoral work was conducted under Richard Huganir studying pathogenic mechanisms of schizophrenia and SynGAP1-Related Intellectual Disability (SRID). The Gerber lab studies abnormal synaptic plasticity, which occurs in a wide spectrum of neuropsychiatric disorders including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.
Michelle Marken – The Captain – Research Specialist II
Michelle is a stellar scientist and she runs a tight ship. Originally from Cumberland, Maryland, she earned a B.S. in Biochemistry and a Master's degree in Forensic Science from Stevenson University. Her current lab work involves using advanced techniques in synaptic biology in vitro, single-cell transcriptomics of the brain, and rodent behavioral experiments to study the functional effects of genetic variants associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Jennifer Hu – The All-Star – Undergraduate Researcher
Hailing from Seattle, Washington, Jennifer is a woman of many talents. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University in May 2025 with a Bachelor of Science and was awarded honors in Neuroscience for her thesis research in the Gerber Lab, where she used imaging and biochemical approaches to study the functional effects of schizophrenia-associated genetic variants in rodent neuron culture models. Her past projects include biomarker research in depression and in vivo study of activity-dependent synaptic plasticity in the mouse visual cortex.
Jacob Tawil – The Mouse Whisperer – Undergraduate Researcher
Jacob is our budding behaviorist originally from Brooklyn, New York. He is an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University majoring in Medicine Science and the Humanities, Class of 2024. His focus in lab has been studying abnormal learning and social behavior in a mouse model of schizophrenia. He has recently expanded his experimental repertoire to include cloning and working with rodent hippocampal neurons in culture.
Justin Chiuwei – The Upstart – Undergraduate Researcher
Justin may be new, but he's diving in and making a splash already! He came to us from Yorba Linda, California and is a current undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University majoring in Neuroscience, Class of 2027. His lab work involves cloning and studying the functional effects of genetic variants associated with schizophrenia in rodent neuron culture models.