Claudia Lopez Lloreda

Bio

I'm currently a neuroscience PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania studying how HIV infection impacts the brain and leads to cell death and cognitive decline. I am also a freelance science journalist covering neuroscience, psychology, mental health, and technology and have written for publications like Scientific American, Smithsonian Magazine, and Wired. I also write for the Penn neuroscience blog PennNeuroKnow and am part of the team for the podcast Caminos en Ciencia producing informational science interviews for Spanish-speaking communities. I completed my undergraduate studies in cellular-molecular biology at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus and did research on the regeneration of the central nervous system of the sea cucumber. Being from Puerto Rico, I am passionate about shining a light on issues affecting vulnerable communities and covering science being done by individuals from historically marginalized groups. I'm excited to be a part of the Mass Media Fellowship at STAT News this summer!

@claulopezneuro

Clips

• Researchers raise concerns about using genetic risk scores to pick ‘healthier’ embryos

• A safer, low dose of laughing gas may be enough to help some patients with major depression, study finds

• Children in rural areas face increasing barriers to pediatric care, study finds

• Gender bias toward men in patent awards results in less biomedical innovation for women, study suggests

• Smokers of menthol cigarettes have a harder time quitting, large new study finds

• Researchers use machine learning to translate brain signals from a paralyzed patient into text

• Messenger RNA vaccine pioneer Katalin Karikó shares her long journey to Covid-19 vaccines

• Covid-19 kept families and caregivers out of hospitals. Some doctors think that shouldn’t happen again

• In the same health system, Black patients are prescribed fewer opioids than white patients

• Large study finds genetic signals that might be used to predict early menopause

• New immunotherapy approach wiped out tumors in two patients with advanced lung cancer, study reports

• Elective surgeries are being delayed again. Doctors want to handle it differently this time

• ‘Stuck in a cul-de-sac’: Researchers are finally breaking away from the central dogma of depression