Members

Kayed Lab Members

Rakez Kayed, PhD

Professor
John Sealy Chair for Parkinson's Research

Urmi Sengupta, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher

Research interest:
My broad research interest is to study the role of tau oligomers and other amyloid oligomers such as α-Synuclein and Amyloid β and their potential synergism in neurodegenerative diseases to actively accelerate the transition of basic research findings into clinical trials for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Protein biochemistry; Protein biophysics; Cell biology techniques; Microscopy; Grant writing.

Alice Bittar, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research interest:
My focus is on tau oligomeric strains in Traumatic brain injury (TBI)-induced neurodegeneration and I also investigate early and late intervention in tau oligomer-targeted immunotherapy (single and combinational) in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models to reverse or slow down neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. I use electrophysiology and animal behavior techniques to assess the changes in neuronal transmission and memory and motor functions in several Wildtype and transgenic mouse model.

Filippa Lo Cascio, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research interest:
My research interests lie in the role of protein aggregation and misfolding in neurodegenerative diseases and the potential of small molecules in targeting and/or modulating the aggregation states of toxic tau oligomers and the mechanisms underlying the diseases progression. Protein Aggregation; Protein Biochemistry; Protein Structure; Protein Biophysics; Molecular Biology.

Sagar Gaikwad, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research interest:
Chronic inflammation in the brain is a pathological feature of tauopathies and associated with dementia development. My research interests involve the development of a comprehensive understanding of inflammation regulation by endogenous molecules (e.g. tau oligomers) and fine-tune the inflammation to promote cognitive recovery or prevent the disease progression. I use experimental mouse models, cell culture, and human’s postmortem tissues as model systems.

Mauro Montalbano, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research interest:
My focus is on the pathogenesis RNA-Binding Proteins (RBPs) like Musashi and TDP-43 and their progression of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia. I use molecular approaches and advanced microscopies in cellular models, transgenic mice, and post-mortem brain tissues.

Nicha Puangmalai, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research interest:
My research of interest is to understand the role of post-translational modifications on tau oligomer pathogenesis and to identify the internalization mechanisms of brain-derived tau oligomers from various neurodegenerative diseases using primary neuronal cultures, human and mouse brain tissues.

Nemil Bhatt

Graduate Student

Research interest:
As protein aggregation is one of the driving factors of neurogenerative diseases, my interest lies in understanding the various aggregation mechanisms of disease-relevant proteins using biochemical assays, biophysical analyses, cell culture, animal models and human tissue.

Kenya More

PhD Candidate

Research interest:
My project analyzes antibody biologics as therapeutic agents to target and bind polymorphic alpha synuclein oligomers. Methods such as immunohistochemistry, immunoblotting, cellular assays, protein biochemistry, and behavioral assays will be used to determine the role of polymorphic alpha synuclein oligomers in the pathological implications and behavioral phenotypes associated with synucleinopathies.