Rebecca M. Lynch, PhD
Associate Professor
Rebecca M. Lynch, Ph.D., joined the GW Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine in February 2016 as an Assistant Professor. She currently works as an Associate Professor and PI of the Lynch Lab.
Teresa Murphy
Teresa is a PhD candidate on the Microbiology and Immunology track in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences program. She graduated from Penn State University in the fall of 2019 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology with an Immunology focus. During her time at Penn State, she studied the pathway of stress erythropoiesis in murine models with Dr. Robert Paulson and held two internships at the Hepatitis B Foundation. She joined the Lynch lab in 2021, and is currently studying how HIV specific broadly neutralizing antibodies drive viral escape and the associated fitness costs as well as how mutations to antibody constant regions affect antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity. The former project earned her a spot on the MITM department’s inaugural HIV Persistence, Comorbidities and Treatment T32 grant. She also serves as an ambassador for the IBS program and is a board member for the Student Organization for Biomedical Scientists at GW.
Michelle Papa
Michelle Papa graduated with B.Sc. in Microbiology and Immunology (2012) and M.Sc. in Immunology and Inflammation (2014) from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. In 2018, she obtained her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the same university (UFRJ). Michelle has experience in endothelial cell infection by Flaviviruses such as Dengue and Zika. Michelle is working as a Post-Doctoral Scientist in the Lynch lab. Her current research focuses on antibody responses against Zika, Dengue, and early responses to HIV vaccination.
Jordyn Best
Jordyn Best graduated from Stevenson University in 2022 with a Bachelor
of Science degree in Biochemistry and recently joined the Lynch Lab as a
research assistant. She hopes that her experience in this lab allows her to
obtain knowledge and skills that will help her in future graduate school
endeavors
Dennis Copertino
Dennis C. Copertino Jr (he/him) is a Senior Research Assistant in the Lynch Lab,
where his work focuses on understanding the dynamics of the HIV reservoir in
clinical trials utilizing bNAb’s. He graduated Cum Laude from Hunter College in NYC in 2018. He is committed to scientific discovery with a particular interest in
Laboratory and Biomedical research for diseases with no known cure. Dennis’
research has focused on HIV Virology, HIV Immunology, and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplants since 2017. He has worked for leaders in the HIV field like Douglas Nixon MD, PhD, Brad Jones, PhD and now Rebecca Lynch, PhD. He is a specialist on multiple techniques relating to HIV reservoirs and T cell immunology. Dennis is excited to begin his PhD in GWUs Biomedical Science program this Fall.
Meagan Kelly
Meagan graduated with B.S in Biology from Stockton University. Her interest in infectious disease research began at Massachusetts General Hospital where she worked on developing vaccines for Cholera and Shigella infection. She recently joined the Lynch Lab as the Laboratory Manager and is excited to become an expert in virus production and running HIV neutralization assays.
Gabe Galeotos
Gabe is PhD student on the Microbiology and Immunology track in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences (IBS) program. He graduated from the University of New Haven in 2022 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology. He joined the Lynch Lab in 2024 and is currently studying the effect autologous antibodies have on HIV escape from broadly neutralizing antibodies at the CD4 binding site. This project was also granted the HIV Persistence, Comorbidities, and Treatment T32 Grant.
Branden Roarke
Branden is a Research Assistant and Master’s student in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine. He graduated from the University of Florida in 2016 with a BSc in Biological Engineering. Branden then worked in industry for two years until moving to the DC area to begin as an IRTA fellow at the NIH, studying fluorescence lifetime imaging and protein engineering in the Lab of Jay R. Knutson. Branden then came to GWU in 2021 where he began work as a manager in the GWU Public Health Laboratory while simultaneously pursuing his MSc and joined the Lynch Lab in 2023. Branden is interested in studying ways to engineer the immune system to fight disease.
Samantha Ansah-Dico
Samantha is currently in her third year as an undergraduate student at GWU, where she is majoring in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Cell and Molecular Biology, and minoring in Bioinformatics. In the Fall of 2022, she joined the Lynch Lab as a student laboratory assistant, where she gained hands-on experience in lab techniques and expanded her knowledge of infectious diseases and how they interact with their hosts. Samantha collaborates with other labs, such as the Chang Lab, to investigate the role of autoimmune disorders in diseases like CHIKUNGUNYA, ZIKA, and Mayaro using ELISAs. Her ambition is to enroll in an MD/PhD program that would enable her to merge her research interests with her lifelong aspiration to become a medical professional.
Kaitlyn Gibbons
Kaitlyn is an undergraduate student at GW majoring in Cellular and Molecular Biology with minors in both Public Health and Human Anatomy. Her interest in infectious diseases started while working in a West Nile Virus testing laboratory in Chicago. Joining in the Fall of 2023, Kaitlyn works as a student lab assistant in the Lynch Lab. Using transformation processes, she maintains the stocks of DNA in the lab used for various research purposes. Kaitlyn plans to use her passion for various infectious diseases and their antibody responses to obtain a PhD in the future.