People
Principal Investigators
Graduate Students
Sabrina Kistler
(Biomolecular Pharmacology)
Education: B.S. in Biology from Penn State University
Thesis Research: Sabrina’s research is focused on understanding the role of APOER2 splicing and its relevance to Alzheimer’s disease. She is using both human brain samples and mouse models to investigate how APOER2 splice variants are connected to disease progression.
Hobbies: Sabrina enjoys baking, puzzles, reading, and watching The Real Housewives
Channa Bao
(Biomolecular Pharmacology/ Biogen)
Education: B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavior from Columbia University
Thesis Research: Channa’s research interests are in neuropharmacology and neurobiology. She is interested in investigating the molecular and cellular processes that underpin neurological disorders with the goal of characterizing novel therapeutic targets or strategies that can impact disease pathophysiology.
Hobbies: Channa likes drawing, travelling, and her pet rabbits
Mingqi Sha
(Neurobiology)
Education: B.S. in Biology from Brandeis University
Thesis Research: Mingqi’s research interests are investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders. She is interested in studying gene/protein regulators and understanding what their roles are in the biological or pathogenic pathway.
Hobbies: Mingqi enjoys jogging, playing the piano, traveling and eating.
Negar Rahmani
(Graduate Program in Neuroscience)
Education: B.S. in Nursing from Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, M.S. in Neuroscience from University of Rhode Island
Thesis Research: Negar’s research focuses on uncovering the biology of resilience-associated genes in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), such as Reelin and the recently identified RELN-COLBOS mutation, with particular emphasis on their cell-type specificity and selective vulnerability within the entorhinal-hippocampal circuit.
Hobbies: In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her cat, practicing yoga, and weightlifting.
Jared Tague
(Biology)
Education: B.S. in Biology from University of Massachusetts Lowell with a Minor in Psychology
Thesis Research: Jared’s research focuses on purifying Reelin and ApoE to investigate their interactions with the transmembrane receptors APOER2 and VLDLR, along with their splice variants, aiming to understand their roles in receptor-ligand binding dynamics.
Hobbies: In his free time, he enjoys reading for his book club, bar trivia, poker with his friends, and hanging out with his cat.
Hannah Hawks-Mayer
(Graduate Program in Neuroscience)
Education: B.S. in Biology from Virginia Tech
Thesis Research: Hannah investigates how the protective Reelin variant RELN-COLBOS influences tau pathology in the entorhinal cortex, one of the earliest regions affected in Alzheimer’s disease. Her goal is to uncover cellular mechanisms by which Reelin may confer resilience to AD progression.
Hobbies: Hannah enjoys reading fantasy books, running, listening to true crime podcasts, and traveling.
Rachel Bozadjian
(Bioinformatics)
Education: B.S. in Biopsychology from UC Santa Barbra
Thesis Research: Rachel’s research is exploring alternative splicing in Alzheimer’s disease using PacBio Iso-Seq pipeline.
Hobbies: Rachel enjoys reading, sewing, and carpentry.
Riya Jadhav
(Bioinformatics)
Education: B.S. in Biochemistry from University of Mumbai
Thesis Research: Riya is using AlphaFold-Multimer to model interactions between Reelin, ApoE, and their receptors (ApoER2, VLDLR, LDLR). Her goal is to assess AF-M’s accuracy by comparing predictions to experimental data and explore whether Reelin and ApoE compete or cooperate at shared binding sites.
Hobbies: Riya enjoys Reading, Baking, Dancing, and Yoga.
-
Undergraduate Students (Current)
Layla Nguyen
Win Rati (Bora) Oo
Abigail Wagner
Elizabeth Lam
Kimhun Tuntikawinwong
Alumni Graduate Students/Postdocs
-
Hannah Axten Waxman, Ph.D.
Graduate Program – Neurobiology
Business Development Manager, Biocytogen
Thesis: Elucidating the role of Foxr1 in mouse embryonic brain development -
Gavin Lagani, Ph.D.
Graduate Program – Neurobiology
Senior Scientist, MeiraGTx
Thesis: Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of acute reelin signaling in regulating the proteome and actin cytoskeleton during neurodevelopment -
Christina Gallo, Ph.D.
Graduate Program – Biomolecular Pharmacology
Senior Scientist, Biogen
Thesis: Alternative splicing of APOER2 across the evolution of the vertebrate brain and its relevance to Alzheimer’s disease -
Shawna Henry, Ph.D.
Graduate Program – Cell and Molecular Biology
Senior Scientist, City Therapeutics
Thesis: Characterization and exploiting the amyloid precursor protein – Mint1 interaction as an Alzheimer’s disease therapeutic target -
Keri Omuro, Ph.D.
Graduate Program – Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Institutional Data Analyst, College Kickstart
Thesis: Identification of novel Apolipoprotein E receptor 2 splice variants and their role in synaptic transmission -
Andressa Mota, Ph.D.
Graduate Program – MCBB
Scientist, Berg Health
Thesis: Forkhead Box R1-mediated stress response linked to a case of human microcephaly and progressive brain atrophy -
Amy Ying Lin, Ph.D.
Graduate Program – Biomolecular Pharmacology
Scientist II, Intra-Cellular Therapies
Thesis: Autism associated Mint2 mutation alters neurexin trafficking and synaptic function -
Greg Dillon, Ph.D.
Graduate Program – Neurobiology
Scientist II, Biogen
Thesis: Microtubule plus-end binding protein CLASP2 in neural development -
Sarah Sulllivan, Ph.D.
Graduate Program – Cell and Molecular Biology
Principal Scientist, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Thesis: Mint-dependent regulation of amyloid precursor protein trafficking and processing in neurons -
Jeremy Chaufty, Ph.D.
Graduate Program – Neurobiology
Principal Scientist, UCB
Thesis: Protein sorting and trafficking by neuronal adaptor proteins: characterization of a conserved dendritic targeting motif on Kv4 channels and endocytic sorting of APP by Mint2/X11L -
Maria F. Matos, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate
Senior Project Manager, Yale School of Medicine
Autoinhibition of Mint1 regulates APP binding and processing
Undergraduate Students (Past)
Margo Dowgiewicz (Teach for America)
Arya Gupta (Medical Assistant at DermPhysicians of New England)
Marcus Kankkunen (Medical Student at Avedisian & Chobanian Boston University Medical School)
Inna Kuznetsova
Anna-Maria Marinescu (Medical Assistant at Atrius Health)
Sahana Natarajan (Research Associate I at the Broad Institute)
Evelyn Harper (Lab Technician at Massachusetts Eye and Ear)
Anna Natrakul (Clinical Care Technician at Tufts Medical Center)
Emily Kim (Master’s Student, Boston University)
Shivani Raghunath Rao (Medical Student, Duke Medical School, Singapore)
Feodora Bertherat (Graduate Student, Oxford University)
Lauren Scrandis (Student Nurse University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center)
Alice Chiang (Graduate Student, Knoxville Master’s Physician Assistant Studies Program)
Taylor Hall (SURF Student – 2017; Medical Student, UCSF)
Julia Hacker (Research Technician, Children’s Hospital PA)
Connor Kenny (Graduate Student, MIT)
Christine Learned (Medical Student, Albany Medical College)
Elias Fong (Data Strategy and Design at ACEA)
Camila Tyminski (Medical Student, Boston University School of Medicine)
Alicia Dupre (Medical Student, Boston University School of Medicine)
Kirsten Kuhn (Undergraduate, Boston University)
Tammo Heinrich (High School Student, Germany)
Melissa Cao (RISE student – 2015)
Sheila Okere (SURF Student – 2014)
Sebastian Gil (SURF Student – 2013)
John Kambouris (Intern-Biomaterials Research, Bioventus)
Hena Choudhry (Graduate Student, Columbia University)
Josefa Sullivan (Graduate Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)
Christine Stuart (Research Assistant, National Institute of Health)
Domenic Filingeri (Medical Student, Boston University School of Medicine)
Alexander Moise (Medical Student, University of Cinninnati)
Dana Simmons (Graduate Student, University of Chicago)
Anthony Esposito (Medical Student, Boston University School of Medicine)
Samantha Bettencourt (Account Manager, Caradigm)
Han Park (Graduate Student, Postech University, Korea)
Felecia Marottoli (Graduate Student, University of Illinois, Chicago)
-
Uwe Beffert
-
Angela Ho