Welcome to the new website for Todd Cohen’s Lab at UNC Chapel Hill!  We will be incrementally moving our online presence to this web address. You can find our old googlesites website here.

This is the digital home for Todd Cohen’s lab in the Department of Neurology at UNC Chapel Hill, not to be confused with Jessica Cohen’s Lab from Psychology and Neuroscience!

 

Learn more about the research being done in the Todd Cohen Lab at UNC Chapel Hill here.

 

This website will provide us with a unique platform for discussion and public interaction.  The forum section of the website is under construction, but check back soon!  Any burning questions for Todd Cohen’s Lab at UNC can be asked here.

 

 

Stay tuned for more updates!  Any feedback is appreciated as well!  Leave a comment below and tell us what you think.

 

 

 

Connor graduated from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in Biology and Biochemistry in 2014, and joined the lab as a technician for two years. He then joined the Cohen and Song Labs as a graduate student where he studied astrocytes and inhibitory networks in Alzheimer’s Disease. Connor runs a science communication podcast and website,  Straight from a Scientist (SFS).  Currently, Connor studies model systems for cerebrovascular disease in the context of plasma biology at Alkahest, Inc in San Carlos, CA. Outside of the lab, he enjoys hiking, swimming, graphic design, gaming, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, paintball and caring for his bearded dragons.

 

 

 

Hanna is a fifth year PhD candidate and NSF-GRFP fellow. She received a B.S. in Biochemistry (and minor in Spanish Language) from Oakland University in Michigan, where she was an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Sanela Martic’s biochemistry laboratory investigating the misfolding and aggregation of the tau protein. After, she joined the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program, the department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, and the Cohen lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been investigating many facets of tau protein biochemistry.

Carli is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Neuroscience curriculum. Before coming to UNC for graduate studies, Carli received a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology at California State University, Northridge. She worked with Dr. Randy Cohen studying the neurodegeneration of Purkinje cells from excitotoxicity by GABA receptor activation in an ataxic rat model. After graduating in May 2015, Carli joined Dr. Daniel Geschwind’s lab at UCLA as a staff research associate where she investigated the effects of overexpression of specific genes known to be involved in neurogenesis such as NGN2, FGFR2, and SOX5 in primary human neural progenitor cells. Now in Todd Cohen’s lab at UNC Chapel Hill, Carli is evaluating the role of a particular post translational modification, tau cleavage by caspases, and its implications to Alzheimer’s disease. Outside of the lab, she enjoys baking, hanging out with her cat, running, eating cheese and making craft cocktails.

Tejaz Ajit graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in Spring 2022 with a B.S. in Biology, B.A in Political Science, and a minor in chemistry. During his time in the Cohen lab, he studied TDP-43 proteinopathy in sALS under the mentorship of Baggio Evangelista. He plans on completing a masters in physiology and hopes to eventually attend medical school. In his free time, he enjoys playing and watching soccer.

Julie is an MD/PhD student who completed the first two years of the UNC School of Medicine curriculum and then joined the Cohen Lab and the Cell Biology and Physiology Department full-time in 2019. She graduated from Pomona College in 2015, where she studied the neuroelectrophysiology and the molecular mechanisms of memory impairment in Alzheimer’s Disease. After graduating and before moving to North Carolina, Julie spent two years in Baltimore’s Biomedical Research Center working as an IRTA Fellow at the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. While there, she worked to develop and characterize novel genome engineering tools, such as CRISPR/Cas9 and AAV vector technology, to manipulate the rodent central nervous system with regional and cell-type specificity. She also worked on developing models of Parkinson’s Disease and HIV-associated Neurocognitive disorders. In the Cohen lab, Julie is researching the role of aberrant TDP-43 species in proteostasis impairment in ALS, FTLD, and other age-related TDP-43 proteinopathies using in vivo and in vitro approaches based on a novel mouse model of disease. She is also investigating the interactions of ALS/FTLD-associated mutations in non-TDP-43 genes on TDP-43 aggregation. When not in the lab or clinic, Julie likes to spend her time outside walking, running, hiking, and biking. She is also a big fan of wine and cheese boards, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Shannon is a second-year graduate student in the Neuroscience Curriculum. She graduated from University of Maryland in 2016 with a degree in Microbiology. She worked as a Lab Manager in Dr. Frank Shewmaker’s Lab at Uniformed Services University where she examined the biophysical characteristics of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)-associated protein FUS in cell culture. She is continuing her research in ALS through a co-mentorship with Sarah Cohen and Todd Cohen studying the impact of ALS pathology on organelle contacts and dynamics.

Suvleen is a fourth year undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. She is majoring in biology and minoring in neuroscience and chemistry with the intent to attend medical school. Under the guidance of her mentor Carli, she has been studying the interactions of certain proteins at the neuronal synapse in hopes of helping to illuminate the mechanism behind caspase-mediated early tau cleavage.

 

Robby graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in Fall 2021 with a B.S. in Neuroscience and a B.A. Religious Studies. After working briefly as a middle school science teacher, Robby joined the Cohen Lab as a lab technician/manager in 2022. Hoping to attend graduate school, Robby is broadly interested in the cellular and molecular underpinnings of neurodegenerative diseases. Outside of the lab, Robby enjoys exercising, traveling, and drinking coffee.