Elgin Tawiah

I am majoring in neuroscience and biology with a minor in health care management. Broadly, I investigate neurodegeneration, which has fascinated me since high school. Before learning about neurodegenerative diseases, I thought that scientists had conquered their understanding of disease pathology. However, I was wrong, and I have since been investigating how choroid plexus morphology and perfusion change after the onset of Alzheimer’s disease using various imaging modalities as a part of the Detre Lab. I also hope to be able to find unique pathological indications and connections to neurodegenerative disease from MRI scans.

I am also studying Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in Drosophila as a means of assessing whether single-gene changes can lead to a rescue of ALS phenotypes as a part of the Song Lab. In the future, I plan to translate my findings in Drosophila to IPSC models.

Outside of research, I am involved in Grey Matters at Penn, a neuroscience journal club. I have a fun time making illustrations for the articles and diving into fascinating neuroscience topics that are often not discussed. I am also involved in Penn’s Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT). In my free time, I like running.

• Fall 2025 CURF Grant Recipient (Louis H Castor, M.D., C’48 Undergraduate Research Grant)
• Johnson Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania
• Robeson Cooper Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania