People
Postdoctoral Researchers:
Heather Bowling is currently a postdoctoral associate studying the role of de novo translation in Autism spectrum disorders using neuroproteomic techniques. She received her Ph.D. from the NYU School of Medicine and her graduate work focused on protein synthesis signaling and subsequent proteomic changes underlying ameliorative neural stimuli. Previously, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation, which has a therapeutic-driven focus through the combination of basic, clinical, and translational projects. In addition, Heather holds honors for her undergraduate work in Rett syndrome at Wellesley College, and a 2014 SfN Chapter Travel Award.
Email: hlb248@nyu.edu
Philip Giannopoulos is a neuroscientist interested in the translational role in learning and memory pertaining to aging and autism spectrum disorders. Currently he is working on pathways involved in energy homeostasis and translation in Fragile X Syndrome which is a major form of inherited intellectual disability characterized by a series of physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms . Phillip received his PhD in Pharmacology with a concentration in Neuroscience with Dr. Domenico Pratico at Temple University exploring the role of lipoxygenases in mechanisms of neurodegeneration related to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease and related tauopathies.
Email: pg80@nyu.edu
Magdalena Kawolinska is a postdoctoral associate examining S6K signaling in NPCs/ iPSCs derived from FXS patients. Magdalena earned her BS from Cleveland State University, Cleveland OH and PhD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx NY.
Email: mk5748@nyu.edu
Francesco Longo is a post-doc interested in understanding the synaptic and behavioral abnormalities associated with autism spectrum disorder, with particular attention to striatal dysfunction in fragile X syndrome model mice. He received his MSc and his PhD in Molecular Pharmacology and Oncology at the Institute for Higher Studies of the University of Ferrara exploring the role of LRRK2 kinase activity in mouse model of model of familial Parkinson’s disease and performing studies focused on the phenomena underlying neurodegeneration.
Email: fl989@nyu.edu
Emanuela Santini is an associate research scientist. Emanuela is interested in understanding the neurobiology of repetitive, stereotyped and perseverative behaviors in the context of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). She is currently studying how alterations in structural and synaptic plasticity at the level of the corpus striatum result in the generation of repetitive, stereotyped and perseverative behaviors in animal models of ASD characterized by dysregulated cap-dependent protein synthesis. In 2014 Emanuela received a NIH, K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award to continue her research in ASD. After completing her M.Sc. (2004) in Neuroscience at La Sapienza University (Rome, Italy) Laurea summa cum laude, Emanuela earned a Ph.D. (2009) in Medical Science at the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden) in the laboratory of Dr. Gilberto Fisone. During the doctoral training she studied the molecular mechanisms of L-DOPA induced dyskinesia, one of the most debilitating side effects of dopamine replacement therapy in Parkinson’s Disease.
Email: es154@nyu.edu
Prerana Shrestha is a postdoctoral associate 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 novvo 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 prefronal cortex that moderate stress induced depression related behavior. She earned her undergraduate degree in Biochamistry, Magna cum laude, from Bates College, Maine.
Email: ps755@nyu.edu
Andrew Varga is an Independent Investigator. Dr. Varga has a longstanding interest in mechanisms of learning and memory and the role of sleep in memory consolidation. He has an active research program both on the systems level in human subjects and on the molecular level in collaboration with Dr. Eric Klann at NYU's Center for Neural Science. His clinical interests involve all areas of sleep medicine with particular interest in movement disorders in sleep (RLS, REM Behavior Disorder), sleep in neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer Disease and Parkinson Disease), and generalized cognitive deficits as a function of fragmented sleep.
Email: av1170@nyu.edu
Anna Vorobyeva is a postdoctoral associate in CNS NYU. She earned her B.S. in biology from Arcadia University (Philadelphia, PA). During her undergraduate studies Anna worked in a neuroimmunology lab under the guidance of Dr. Wesley Rose III (Arcadia University) and in part by Dr. Gelnn Rall (Fox Chase Cancer Research Center). After graduation, she worked as a technician at Johnson & Johnson in the skin pharmacology discovery group. In 2009, Anna started her Ph.D. in Cell & Molecular Biology at Drexel University where she focused on characterizing Sonic Hedgehog signaling pathway and its role in Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) processing, Amyloid-beta clearance, and trafficking to primary cilia. Upon finishing her Ph.D. in 2014, Anna joined Dr. Eric Klann's lab and began characterizing human autism-associated single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in genes encoding proteins that regulate global protein synthesis.
Email: av81@nyu.edu
PhD Students
Sameer Aryal is a Ph.D. student. He earned a B.A. in Economics and Biology (honors) from Williams College, MA. He is especially interested in applying genomic approaches to decipher the role of translational control in cognition. He has previously worked on examining the neural substrates of certain fly behaviors, and on analyzing real-time tracking datasets of fruit flies.
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.
Master's Student:
Pedro Herrero
MS, Condensed Matter Physics and Systems Biology. Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.
BSc, Biochemistry. Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
Undergraduates
Tinley Chen
Alexandra Gastone
Mark Khoury
Derek Lin
Research Technicians
Nickie Zeak (L) and Maggie Dorsey (R)
Rosemary Puckett
BA, The University of the South, Sewanee, TN
MS, Neuroscience, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
Yasemin Eren