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Amanda Levy Placone (left) and Jesse Placone (right) with their daughter Kyla (center).
Alumni Ever After Some may say fate brought together INBT and Materials Science and Engineering Department’s (DMSE) alums Jesse Placone ’13 and Amanda Levy Placone ’16, but they’ll tell you it was the annual DMSE softball game. Levy Placone’s own parents met while attending Johns Hopkins as undergraduates in the early 1980s and in 2014, the tradition was passed on when Jesse and Amanda said “I do.” While working in different disciplines, the couple is still immersed in the field which brought them together (the science, not the softball field). Mentored by Kalina Hristova, core faculty member at the INBT, Placone studied thermodynamics of receptor tyrosine kinases dimerization. Levy Placone was mentored by Peter Searson, core faculty member and co-founder of the INBT, and studied the effect of astrocyte activation on the progression of brain cancer. The INBT caught up with these alums to see how their careers have developed since graduating.
projects across a range of therapeutic areas. I enjoy applying my scientific knowledge and problem-solving abilities while learning new knowledge in medical science and the life sciences industry. Placone:
I am an assistant professor at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. I am excited to establish their new Biomedical Engineering Program. I develop 3D printed bone mimetics for assessing cancer meINBT: Where are you currently working? tastasis, specifically assessing cell-cell and Levy Placone: I’m a senior consultant at Gui- cell-substrate interactions. I make decisions dehouse working on projects for clients in that impact curriculum design and foster the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. undergraduate learning. Our new facilities I started working in July 2019 and it’s been are under construction and I’m helping dereally interesting to work on a variety of sign research and learning spaces to facilitate
