Welcome to the Falcone Lab
We study the functions of astrocytes across evolution and development of the brain across vertebrates.
Our research is made possible by National Institute on Aging and by Towson University
What we value
- Open science
- Equal access to opportunities
- Inclusive work environment
- Good work-life balance
- Constructive criticism
- Teamwork & collaboration
- Scientific challenges
Carmen Falcone, PhD
Principal Investigator
Carmen received her PhD in Functional and Structural Genomics from SISSA in 2017, studying the mechanisms regulating astrocyte development in mouse. She then moved to UC Davis for her postdoc, investigating astrocyte evolution and development across mammals, and began her focus on interlaminar astrocytes (ILAs) — a special type of cortical astrocyte with a cell body in layer I and long, branched processes crossing several cortical layers. In 2022 she became Group Leader at SISSA, and in 2025 she became an Assistant Professor at Towson University, where she moved her lab. Her lab currently focuses on astrocyte roles in the primate brain, and on understanding cortical astrocyte roles in the evolution, development, and pathology of the mammalian brain.
cfalcone@towson.edu
Kyle Hastings
Undergraduate student researcher
Kyle is a sophomore undergraduate student in the Honors College at Towson University on the pre-med path, studying biology. He is investigating varicose-projection glia in self-regenerating planaria under neuroinflammation. Outside the lab, he represents the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics in the Towson SGA, plays for Towson club tennis, and enjoys drawing & painting.
Anh Quynh Nguyen Do
Undergraduate student researcher
Anh Quynh is an international student at Towson University pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, with plans to become a pediatric nurse. She is curious about how cellular lesions can lead to brain disease. Outside academics, she loves traveling and experiencing local culture around the world.
Alyssa Geddie
Undergraduate student researcher
Alyssa is a junior undergraduate student studying Biology with a concentration in Secondary Education at Towson University, and a member of the Honors College. Her interest in neuroscience stems from a birth injury known as Erb's Palsy. She joined the lab in December 2025.
Prasiddika Thapaliya
Undergraduate student researcher
Prasiddika is a sophomore Biology major on the pre-med track with a Psychology minor. She is especially interested in astrocytes and how they support overall brain function, with a long-term goal of becoming a neurosurgeon.
Gaia Montecchi
Undergraduate student researcher
Gaia is a sophomore international student at Towson University majoring in Biology with a concentration in Cellular, Molecular, and Organismal Physiology, minoring in Psychology, and on the pre-med track. Outside the lab, she volunteers at the infusion center at Saint Joseph Medical Centre and co-captains the Towson University tennis team.
Jake Shaheen
Undergraduate student researcher
Jake is a sophomore at Towson University majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics. His long-term goal is to pursue a PhD in Computational Neuroscience and build a career in interdisciplinary medical research. He is particularly interested in understanding how the brain functions, with a focus on the complex mechanisms involved in brain aging, cognition, and the regulation of neural systems. His academic interests lie at the intersection of computation, mathematics, and neuroscience, where quantitative methods can be applied to study and model biological systems. In his free time, he enjoys staying active at the gym, playing volleyball, and playing video games.
Eric Mitchell
Undergraduate student researcher
Eric is an undergraduate student with a personal interest in how the brain works and how it recovers from trauma. He is passionate about researching neurodegenerative diseases and the pivotal role astrocytes play in the blood-brain barrier. With family affected by Multiple Sclerosis and his own childhood diagnosis of ADEM, his goal is to research methods of drug delivery across this barrier. Academically, he is interested in neuroscience, genetics, and physiology. Beyond his own research and academic interests, he hopes to one day teach younger generations and share not just his love of science but the joy of learning. In his free time, he stays active through volunteer sports, hiking, and kayaking.
Alex Macias
Undergraduate student researcher
Description coming soon.
Blain Sahilu
Undergraduate student researcher
Blain is a junior at Towson University on the pre-med track, majoring in Biology. They have always had a genuine interest in the brain — how it works, why people do the things they do, and the specific roles different parts of the brain play — which draws them toward neurobiology. Passionate about science, they are excited to finally step into the lab, gain hands-on research experience, and learn as much as possible from everyone here. Outside of class, Blain stays creative making digital content focused on lifestyle and fashion, and has recently been learning to play tennis.
Jocelynn Ginsberg
Undergraduate student researcher
Jocelynn is a D1 tennis player at Towson University on the pre-med track, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Biology. She is very interested in pediatric dermatology and how early biological and neural development influences children's health. She is excited about the lab's focus on astrocytes and glial cell function in the brain, as understanding how these cells contribute to development is meaningful to her interest in pediatric health. She values this opportunity to gain hands-on research experience and contribute to work in the lab.
Christian Ricks
Undergraduate student researcher
Christian is a junior undergraduate student at Towson University studying Biology with a concentration in Cellular, Molecular, and Organismal Physiology. He is on the Pre-PA track and plans to become a Physician Associate in neurology. His current academic interests focus on fungi — specifically mushrooms and their interactions with brain health — and he hopes to one day apply mushrooms in the clinical setting as an alternative medicine. Outside the lab, he is a certified clinical medical assistant, a board-certified nursing assistant, a Towson University Resident Assistant, and the first-ever NAACP Towson University Chapter Mr. NAACP.
Zion Fitzgerald
Undergraduate student researcher
Description coming soon.
Mary Igbonekwu
Master's student researcher
Description coming soon.
Kobe Anderson
Master's student researcher
Kobe is a master's student in the Psychological Sciences program specializing in behavioral neuroscience. His current work looks at how interneuron activity relates to behavior across different tasks, and how those relationships differ between male and female rats. His days are split between running animals through behavioral tests, doing microscopy and imaging, and reading papers to figure out what the data are telling us — using both traditional lab methods and computational tools, though the brain is what he is really there for. He is interested in how different cell types — interneurons, glia, and neurons — shape the circuits that drive behavior, and is still exploring what questions are worth spending a career on. Kobe is a member of Dr. Bryan Devan's lab at Towson University, which collaborates with the Falcone lab.
Collaborators
We are lucky to collaborate with brilliant and fun researchers across the world.
Bruno Mota, PhD
Professor at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Francesco Petrelli, PhD
Research associate at University of Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland)
Chiara Magliaro, PhD
Assistant professor at Centro E. Piaggio, University of Pisa (Pisa, Italy)
Nina Patzke, PhD
Professor at Health and Medical University, Potsdam (Potsdam, Germany)
Carmen Muñoz Ballester
Assistant Professor at UMBC (Baltimore, USA)
Giuliano Taccola, PhD
Associate professor at SISSA (Trieste, Italy)
Jean-Marie Graïc, PhD
Assistant professor at University of Padua (Padua, Italy)
Nunzio Iraci, PhD
Associate professor at University of Catania (Catania, Italy)
Laura Civiero, PhD
Associate professor at University of Padua (Padua, Italy)
Alumni
Research
Research projects
Unraveling the functions of Interlaminar Astrocytes in the primate brain
Among the different types of cortical astrocytes, interlaminar astrocytes (ILAs) are a subset of GFAP+ astrocytes with singular morphological traits: a cell body in the most marginal layer of the cerebral cortex (layer I), very close to the pia, and long interlaminar processes running into deeper cortical layers — reaching layer V in humans. All mammals have some type of ILA, but primates are distinctive in their density, morphology, and molecular markers. Great apes and humans exhibit the most complex ILAs, supporting the hypothesis that they contribute to the exceptional cognitive abilities of the primate brain through specific, yet-to-be-investigated functions. This project investigates ILA function at the molecular, cellular, circuit, and behavioral level, using postmortem human brains and chimeric mouse models.
Astrocyte Evolution and Development
The central nervous system shows incredible diversity across evolution at the anatomical, cellular, molecular, and functional level. While neuronal cell number and heterogeneity have been rigorously studied in comparative neuroscience, astrocytes play equally pivotal roles — regulating water and ion homeostasis, exchanging nutrients across the blood-brain barrier, and regulating synapse development and function. This project investigates the morphology, density, development, and function of astrocytes across a broad range of mammals.
Defining the Role of Varicose Projection Astrocytes in Alzheimer's Disease Pathology
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that remains without effective treatment, and mounting evidence points to neuroinflammation as a key driver of its progression. Varicose projection (VP) astrocytes are a recently identified reactive astrocyte phenotype — marked by long processes with evenly spaced varicosities — that are enriched in the cortex and white matter of AD brains and can be induced experimentally by pro-inflammatory cytokines. This project uses human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-based models and human postmortem brain tissue to define the molecular signature of VP astrocytes in AD-associated neuroinflammation and to test their functional impact on neuronal degeneration, laying the groundwork for new therapeutic strategies targeting this reactive astrocyte phenotype.
News
Latest updates
Falcone Lab is officially NIH funded
Carmen Falcone is awarded an NIH R15 grant from National Institute on Aging.
Carmen Falcone joins Towson University
Carmen became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Towson University (Towson, MD, USA), where she has relocated the lab.
Giulio got his Master's Degree in Neuroscience
We are proud to celebrate Giulio's master's degree in Neuroscience. We are also very lucky to keep having him in our lab as a PhD student starting November 2023!
Our lab's first paper is online!
Our very first paper is online! We published a protocol for immunofluorescence on challenging brain tissues from different species and preparations.
Read moreEuropean Glia Meeting in Berlin
Our postdoc Caterina Ciani presented our first lab results at the XVI European Meeting on Glial Cells in Health and Disease in Berlin.
“Astrocytes: the true stars of the brain”
We discussed our research with a non-scientific public at the Urban Center in Trieste.
Welcome Giulio Pistorio to the lab!
Giulio joined our lab for his Master's thesis in Neuroscience, working on a comparative study of astrocyte morphology and distribution across mammalian species.
Caterina Ciani selected for the IBRO-ICPBR Virtual Primate Neurobiology Course
Congratulations to our postdoc Caterina Ciani on this achievement.
“Don't call me a returning brain”
An interview with Dr. Carmen Falcone, by SISSA.
First HT Early Career Fellows
Announcement of the first Human Technopole Early Career Fellowship winners.
Carmen Falcone returns to SISSA
Carmen Falcone was announced among the first fellows of the Early Career Fellowship Program, returning to SISSA to develop her project.
1 million euro awarded for research
Mirko Cortese and Carmen Falcone were awarded 1 million euro for their research projects.
Gallery
Life in the lab
Department of Biological Sciences
Towson University
8000 York Road
Towson, MD 21252, USA