As a neuroscientist I am interested in the microscopic structure of the human brain, in particular how protein pathology relates to changes in the number of brain cells and cell-to-cell connections in neurodegenerative diseases. I study the brain at post-mortem, however, as the post mortem brains offers only a snapshot of the illness at the end stage, the ambition of my research is to assist in the development of new tools to map and track human brain illnesses. My current research explores such relationships in the severe and incurable neurodegenerative disorders, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and multiple system atrophy (MSA).

Since 2019, I’ve been working as an assistant professor in Department of Neurology and Institute for Cell Engineering in Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. My laboratory employs advanced technologies in high throughput screening, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing both in cultures and in mouse, a-synucleinopathy mouse models including the injection of intrastriatal and gut-to-brain a-syn preformed fibrils (PFFs), and human stem cell biology important in studying Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia with Lewy Body and other neurologic disorders. We also use advanced imaging approaches including stereology, electron microscopy, confocal microscopy and super resolution microscopy in our analysis. Since reactive astrocytes and PARP-1 are recently known to being involved in brain aging, my laboratory has been focusing on neuronal and non-neuronal mechanisms of brain aging and aging-related brain diseases. We are trying to understand the molecular mechanisms of non-canonical PARP-1 activation when neurons are dying as well as to identify the role of microglia-astrocyte axis in brain aging. The overarching goal of the research is to understand death and survival mechanisms in order to identify novel targets that are essential for pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and developing disease-modifying therapies.

I'm an MD-PhD student working with Evan Macosko at the Broad Institute. I'm very excited about using computational techniques and single-cell interrogative tools to uncover fundamental disease biology of the nervous system.

Dr. Karunya Kandimalla is Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA. Dr. Kandimalla earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA. Subsequently, he conducted postdoctoral research work in the Department of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, USA. Dr. Kandimalla has expertise in the general areas of cellular trafficking and pharmacokinetics with emphasis on macromolecular transport and metabolism. Kandimalla laboratory has been Investigating blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and is developing ‘omics’ approaches to resolve pathophysiological mechanisms contributing to BBB dysfunction in AD and type-2 diabetes. Moreover, Kandimalla Lab is focused on designing nanotheranostics for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). Dr. Kandimalla received Genesis Award in 2017 from the University of Iowa that honors its graduates who have achieved early distinction in their field.

My name is Min Su (Peter) Kang, and I received my Ph.D. from McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Pedro Rosa-Neto and Dr. Gassan Massarweh. My thesis focused on the development of a multimodal in vivo biomarker-based translational platform for the discovery and validation of a new biomarker, a deeper understanding of pathophysiological molecular mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, and evaluation of a novel therapeutic for drug discovery.

I am a biomedical engineer committed to provide translational technology for solving neurological disorders. My research interest majorly lies in the development of human brain disease models and brain disease-targeting drug delivery system.

Sarah is a data scientist focusing on longitudinal analyses of neuroimaging data. Her dissertation research identified neural markers of cognitive and motor decline in Parkinson’s Disease. During her doctoral studies she also investigated neural markers associated with increased risk of Major Depressive Disorder. Her analyses included both functional and anatomical neuroimaging data and focused on utilizing classification models to identify disease subtypes with distinct longitudinal trajectories. Sarah received her Ph.D. in Integrative Neuroscience from Stony Brook University in 2020.

Dr. Kaplan has over 25 years of experience in drug development in the biotechnology industry. She currently serves as Chief Development Officer with ProMIS Neurosciences, a company developing therapies for neurodegenerative disorders. Prior to these appointments, Dr. Kaplan held positions of increasing responsibility at Genzyme Corporation, most recently as a Vice President of Research, in the fields of neuroimmunology, cancer immunotherapy, gene therapy, and autoimmunity. She led the work of the Research Team supporting the approval and launch of Lemtrada and Aubagio for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Prior to joining Genzyme, she was an Associate Immunopathologist at SmithKline Beecham where she established an immunotoxicology program. Her work has resulted in over 70 scientific publications and multiple patents. Dr. Kaplan holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology & Immunology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and conducted post-doctoral studies at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Dimitrios Kapogiannis is a Senior Investigator and Chief of the Human Neuroscience Section at the National Institute on Aging and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University. He earned his Medical Degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece; completed Neurology Residency at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals of Harvard University and a Fellowship in Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH. He has been a pioneer in isolating Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) enriched for brain cell origin from blood and using them to derive biomarkers for neurological and psychiatric diseases and as outcomes for experimental treatments. His research includes basic and translational research focusing on EVs and biomarker discovery for neurodegenerative diseases, especially, Alzheimer’s disease. He also conducts clinical studies investigating the effects of various metabolic interventions on cognitive performance and biomarkers.

I am currently a PhD student working at the Forschungszentrum Jülich under supervison of Prof. Dr. Dieter Willbold and Dr. Janine Kutzsche.

Dr. Katz is an Associate Professor of Cell Biology at the Emory University School of Medicine. His lab focuses on the epigenetic maintenance of neuronal fate and how disruptions in this process contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. His lab is also interested in the neurological outcomes associated with the inappropriate inheritance of histone methylation.