Kyle is an MD/PhD student who completed the first two years of medical school at UNC and joined the Cohen Lab through the Department of Pharmacology in 2022. As an undergraduate, he attended Cornell University, where he majored in Biology and Neurobiology and studied the neurocircuitry related to depression and mood disorders in Melissa Warden’s Lab. He then expanded upon his skillset in behavioral and systems neuroscience when he joined the Friedman Lab of Molecular Genetics at the Rockefeller University as a post-baccalaureate research technician. In his two years there, he helped to parse out various neurocircuits related to metabolism, feeding, and thermoregulation using optogenetics, DREADDs, TRAP, iDISCO, and several other techniques. In the Cohen lab, Kyle studies how the dysregulation of glial cells and the neuroinflammatory response can lead to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in both in vitro and in vivo models. While not in the lab or clinic, Kyle enjoys cooking, hiking, powerlifting, basketball, volleyball, and learning new languages.

Nicholas Zullo (he/him/his) is a recent graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and current master’s student at Duke University. He is very interested in neurodegenerative research, particularly ALS, and plans to either pursue research or attend medical school in the future. In his free time, he enjoys basketball, gaming, and working on cars.

Darien is a graduate student at NC State University, planning to graduate with her Master’s of Physiology in December 2022. She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Biology in May 2021 and has been in the lab since August 2021 as a research technician. In college, Darien gained clinical research experience at Johns Hopkins University, where she studied the genetic and environmental factors that influence appetite, and at UNC, studying the relationship between stress, inflammation, and physical activity. She also completed the Nathan Schnaper Intern Program in translational cancer research at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 2019, where she worked to optimize the preparation of PEI-PEMA nanoparticles for gene therapy. In our lab, she uses in vitro models to study ALS pathology associated with defective cytoskeletal proteins. In the future, Darien hopes to become a physician and continue working in translational research.

On June 25th, 2022 Dr. Cohen will be presenting as a keynote speaker as part of the first Symposium for Learning about Alzheimer’s disease-related Medical research at Duke and UNC (SLAM-DUNC), hosted by the Duke-UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. It will be held at the Duke Karsh Alumni and Visitor’s Center, and is open to researchers, clinicians, and trainees from Duke, UNC, NCCU, UNC-Pembroke, and ECU.

For more information and registration, please visit https://dukeuncadrc.org/slam-dunc/

Sara Nafees (she/her) recently graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Neuroscience and Religious Studies and a minor in chemistry. She has always been interested in neurodegenerative diseases and has been working in the lab particularly with ALS. She plans on working during her gap year and eventually attending medical school. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, art, hiking, and gardening.

Zarin is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics (BMB) group at UPenn and is a member of Dr. Jim Shorter’s Lab. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2020 with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Neuroscience. As a member of Todd Cohen’s lab, she studied the regulation of the kinase MARK2 and acetyltransferase CBP, which are implicated in the protein tau’s aggregation in AD. She was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh and raised in Muncie, Indiana. In her free time, she likes to read, play tennis, spend time with friends/family, and explore Philly. In 2020, Zarin was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Jasmeet is a third-year undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. She is majoring in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Creative Writing and has been with the Cohen lab since Summer 2021. With the help of her mentor Xù, she hopes to continue studying neurodegenerative diseases in the Cohen lab. Outside of lab, she loves to read, go on walks, and watch movies from around the world.

Camryn is a fourth-year undergraduate at UNC double-majoring in Neuroscience and Exercise and Sports Science and minoring in Spanish for the Medical Professions. Before attending UNC, she was a Robert H. Kirsten student intern at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland. There, she worked with Dr. Anu Puri and Dr. Bruce A. Shapiro in the RNA Biology Lab studying the role of photoactivatable lipid-based nanoparticles in anticancer drug delivery. After graduating from high school in 2019, Camryn began her undergraduate education at UNC Chapel Hill. Since 2020, Camryn has been a member of Dr. Todd Cohen’s lab and is working with Dr. Henry Tseng to evaluate the role of tau acetylation in Alzheimer’s Disease pathology. Outside of the lab, she is a houseplant enthusiast (currently a mom to over 40 different plants!), loves attending and watching sporting events, and will never turn down a good coffee.

Contributing Publications:

Tabassum, Z.; Tseng, J.-H.; Isemann, C.; Tian, X.; Chen, Y.; Herring, L. E.; Cohen, T. J. Identification of a Reciprocal Negative Feedback Loop between Tau-Modifying Proteins MARK2 Kinase and CBP Acetyltransferase. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2022, 298 (6), 101977. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2022.101977.

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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.

Omeed is a fourth-year undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. He is double majoring in Neuroscience and Quantitative Biology with the intention of practicing medicine as a functional neurosurgeon. Throughout his time at the Cohen Lab, he has examined the role of environmental factors on TDP-43 dysfunction under the mentorship of Dr. Giulia Fragola. Recently, he was awarded with the 2022 SURF fellowship and is currently exploring the role of metal ions in ALS pathology. Outside of the lab, Omeed enjoys star-gazing, learning more about the brain, and drinking coffee.