Taruna Vani Neelakantan

Taruna is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry where she is interested in studying ferroptosis in the tumor immune microenvironment. She earned her B.S in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of California, Davis. During her time at UC Davis, she conducted research in the Department of Pharmacology and Department of Chemistry. She also studied abroad for a quarter in Taipei, Taiwan where she researched ZIKV-NS1 at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences in Academia Sinica. Prior to moving to New York to pursue graduate school, she also interned at Merck, where she synthesized antibody-drug conjugates. Outside of research, Taruna loves to travel, try new cuisines, go on hikes, and above all, spend quality time with her family.