I am a cellular and molecular neuroscientist studying the mechanisms of neurodegeneration and neurotoxicity, with a focus on how glial cells—astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes—become dysfunctional and contribute to disease.

Currently, I am a postdoctoral fellow in Shane Liddelow’s lab at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, where I investigate the roles of reactive astrocytes in Alzheimer’s disease and oligodendrocytes in X-linked Dystonia-Parkinsonism. 

Before moving to New York, I pursued my Ph.D. with Gaurav Chopra in the Chemistry Department at Purdue University. My doctoral research combined chemical biology and neuroscience to understand how microglia become dysfunctional in Alzheimer’s disease. My work uncovered that amyloid β induces lipid droplet accumulation in microglia, leading to their phagocytic dysfunction. In parallel, I also developed a suite of chemical tools to study glial functions, including a pH-sensitive Aβ probe for real-time quantitative imaging of phagocytosis. 

My long-term goal is to establish an independent research program that defines mechanisms of glial dysfunction in neurodegeneration and identifies molecular pathways that can be targeted for therapeutic intervention.