Our team

Manita obtained her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Pharmacy from Nepal. In 2013, she moved to the USA for higher studies and completed my PhD in Pharmacology in 2018 from University of Louisiana at Monroe. She joined Dr. Alison Scott lab as a postdoctoral researcher in 2022. In the Scott lab, she is using a lipid A structural engineering tool called bacterial enzymatic combinatorial chemistry (BECC) to produce novel lipid A structures with unique immunomodulatory properties and examine its effect in amyloid accumulation and associated neuropathology in a vivo mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Besides, she is also involved in the Aging Project which aims to assemble a complete region and cell type specific lipid fingerprints of aging and evaluate the contribution of APOE status and Alzheimer’s Disease in mouse models. Outside the lab, Manita loves gardening, going for walk-in nature, and spending time with family.

Tialfi is a senior researcher with a PhD in Biosciences and strong expertise in mass spectrometry (MS) and imaging (MSI) for lipidomics and metabolomics. His career began with MS analysis of breast cancer metabolites, building on head and neck cancer (HNC) research from his master’s, and continued with postdoctoral work on MSI in HNC samples at FAMERP (Brazil) and M4i (Netherlands). Currently, at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, he is involved in several projects focusing on Alzheimer’s Disease and infection models in mice and nonhuman primates, where he uses MSI as primary analytical approach. Outside the lab, Tialfi enjoys time with his wife and dog, traveling, watching good movies and series, exploring great food, and savoring quality beer.

Natalia works as a research assistant/lab technician at Scott lab. She has a bachelors in Biomedical Science and is currently pursuing her Masters in Clinical Microbiology. She is involved in a little bit of everything that goes on in the lab, from Cryosectioning for Oil Red O staining and the histological visualization of fat cells to running ELISA for the characterization of HMGB-1 in the mice model.

Sarah has a bachelor’s in Animal Sciences. She has gained experience working with animals of all sizes ranging from mice to horses. She worked with data collected from house wrens to analyze their dimorphic song patterns and structures for a lab. She also participated in caring for and monitoring Leghorn activity during an internship at UMD. She is currently working with mice and learning about how pain sensory signals send messages through the peripheral and central nervous system to cause a cascade of events to unfold. Outside of understanding animal behaviors and caring for them, she enjoys baking and trying new recipes. Sarah especially loves making creamy, extra cheesy mac and cheese with breadcrumbs, pepper, and a bit of garlic.

Shanaliz Natta is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Molecular Medicine program at the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Dentistry (SOD). Originally from St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, she earned a Biology degree from the University of the Virgin Islands, participating in summer research programs at the University of Missouri and UNC-Chapel Hill, which fueled her passion for biomedical research. After graduation, she worked briefly as a quality technician at Diageo Rum Distillery, gaining experience in chemical analyses and microbial testing.
She later completed a Master of Science in Biology through Towson University’s Bridges to the Doctorate program, focusing on bacterial pathogenesis and host-pathogen interactions. A rotation at UMB’s School of Medicine deepened her interest in microbiology as she worked on vaccines against nontyphoidal Salmonella. Following this, she joined the STAR-PREP program to further develop her research skills before beginning her doctoral studies.
Currently, she researches how Pseudomonas aeruginosa modulates host phospholipids in cystic fibrosis patients. In her free time, she enjoys working out, crocheting, and pet sitting.