2026 RENUM-FL Summer Program Scholar
USF Medical School Student
Neal earned a BS in Biology from the University of Arizona in 2023, where he conducted research in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He started medical school at the University of South Florida in 2025 and joined the lab in May 2026 as a RENUM-FL Summer Program Scholar. During this program, Neal is investigating clinically relevant mitochondrial remodeling associated with vascular dysfunction in hypertension. Specifically, he examines changes in mitochondrial morphology and the underlying molecular mechanisms in primary vascular smooth muscle cells and aortic tissue samples from both hypertensive patients and healthy donors, utilizing immunofluorescence staining and Western blot analysis.
