Meet the team

Prerana Shrestha is studying the role of translation in specific cell types in amygdala for fear related memory processes. She is currently developing a novel chemogenetic approach to inducibly block de novo protein synthesis in a cell autonomous manner. Prerana received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the Rockefeller University in the laboratory of Dr. Nathaniel Heintz. For her dissertation, Prerana developed several bacTRAP transgenic mouse lines to characterize molecularly distinct cortical pyramidal cell types, and focused on layer 2/3 pyramidal cell population in the prefrontal cortex that moderate stress induced depression related behavior. She earned her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry, Magna cum laude, from Bates College, Maine. Prerana received the NARSAD Young investigator award in 2017.

Ilona Kats is a graduate student in the Neuroscience program interested in the mechanism of cap-dependent translation initiation in autism and synaptic plasticity.  She graduated with a B.A. from Pomona College where she studied the effects of stress and exercise on long-term potentiation in rats.  More recently before coming to NYU she spent two years doing research on an Intramural Research Training Award in the Kenneth Fischbeck laboratory at the National Institutes of Health.  There she studied the molecular mechanism of Spinal and Bulbar Muscular atrophy using induced pluripotent stem cells.

Mauricio Oliveira is interested in understanding the molecular mechanism that underlie protein synthesis-dependent memory formation. Specifically, his work focuses on understanding how GADD34, a scaffold protein involved in eIF2a dephosphorylation, participated in early events of memory processes, and how it could be involved in age-dependent cognitive decline and dementia. Mauricio earned his PhD from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro on translation initiation dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease to study whether pharmacological intervention to restore protein synthesis could rescue synaptic plasticity and memory of AD models.

Muhaned Mohamed is an MD/PhD student in the department of Neuroscience. He is interested in understanding how translational dysfunction leads to neurological disorders. His current projects include understanding how mutations in the EEF1A2 gene found in patients result in autism, epilepsy and intellectual disability. Muhaned graduated from York College with B.S. in Chemistry and Psychology, where he studied the influence of postsynaptic ganglion cells in the development of the bipolar cells of the retina. Afterwards he worked in the Naora lab at MD Anderson Cancer Center studying the role of homeobox gene DLX4 in Philadelphia chromosome negative myeloproliferative neoplasms.