People

Luis Gonzalez Reyes, MD, PhD

Research Associate Professor

I obtained an MD degree and held a faculty position at Los Andes University, Venezuela. At the Physiology laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. Luis Hernandez, I received training in behavioral neuroscience and brain microdialysis. Subsequently, I pursued further studies in England and the US, earning a PhD in Neuropharmacology from King's College London, followed by postdoctoral training at Columbia University Genome Center in New York City. I am currently investigating alterations in synaptic ultrastructure and synaptic protein content following learning and memory in animal models of Alzheimer's disease. 

Trongha Phan, PhD

Research Associate Professor

My passion has always centered around the neurobiology of learning and memory. As an undergraduate student in neuroscience at UW, I became fascinated by the process of converting short-term memory into long-term memory. During my graduate studies, I discovered that the Suprachiasmatic nucleus plays a crucial role in regulating the molecular oscillations of the hippocampus, essential for maintaining long-term memory. During my postdoctoral research at MIT, I investigated how circadian rhythms are epigenetically regulated and their impact on memory. Additionally, I began to investigate engram cells in an Alzheimer's disease model. My current research at UIC primarily focuses on gaining insight into the role of immature, new and mature neurons in the dentate gyrus, both in Alzheimer’s disease models. 

Muskan Gupta, PhD

Visiting Research Scientist

I achieved my PhD degree in Life Sciences (Biotechnology) from Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab, India. My research focuses on profiling new and mature neurons in the dentate gyrus that participate in memory formation. I am also intrigued by the cross talk between glia and neurons during memory formation in health and Alzheimer's disease.

Pavan Kumar, PhD

Visiting Research Scientist

I received a Ph.D. in the neuroscience from the laboratory of Prof. Pushpa Dhar at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. My doctorate dissertation work examined estrogen mediated immune regulation and neuroprotection in female rat hippocampus. Currently, I am interested in the contribution of new neurons to memory discrimination, encoding, and

consolidation in Alzheimer’s disease models.

Deepika Patel, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Associate

I obtained my Ph.D. from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, where I conducted research in Dr. Buwalda and Prof. Kas’s lab investigating social hierarchy-induced neuronal plasticity in the brain areas involved in learning and memory. My research in the lab focusses on the assessment of vascular factors that contribute in the development of late onset Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, my scientific interests encompass understanding mechanisms driving pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome. I use “disease-in-a-dish” models generated from patient-derived human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) in 2D cultures and 3D-brain organoids (“mini-brains”) to examine the molecular features of these neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. 

Sabitha Rajesh, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Associate

I am interested in the spatio-temporal dynamic changes in the transcriptomics and epigenomic profiling of hippocampal neurogenesis in the human brain in aging and Alzheimer's disease. Using single nuclei multi-omics of postmortem human hippocampi, across aging, cognitive decline, and AD neuropathology, I examine the molecular components that regulate these processes. 

Luis Aponte Cofresi, BSc

MSTP and GPN student

I am interested in the mechanism by which PICALM, a genetic risk factor of Alzheimer's disease, regulates neuronal processes that lead to vulnerability or resilience. Using CRISPR/Cas9 - edited induced pluripotent stem cell model, I study the molecular and cellular physiology of PICALM wild type and knockout forebrain neurons.

Karen Rakowiecki, BSc

GPN student

My research focuses on the role of Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) in deficits in corticogenesis and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in Down Syndrome (DS), utilizing cortical organoids. DS due to trisomy 21 (T21) results in significant developmental cortical malformation and invariably accumulation of AD pathology with aging. Approximately sixty percent of people with DS will develop AD by sixty to seventy years old. I have generated DS patient derived induced pluripotent stem cell lines in which CRISPR-Cas9 technology was utilized to normalize APP expression. I examine the effect of APP expression normalization on the development of dorsal forebrain cortical organoids and AD pathology.