Category: alumni

Youjun received her Ph.D. degree in Cellular and Molecular Physiology from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010 under the mentorship of Dr. William Snider. She stayed in Dr. Snider’s lab for one additional year as a post-doctoral research fellow. Her research focus in the Snider lab was studying the roles of Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) in neuronal morphogenesis. Youjun worked at The Scripps Research Institute as a postdoctoral research associate studying autism and brain development. She returned to UNC-Chapel Hill and joined the Cohen lab in 2016.

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.

In 2007, I graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. After a year of military service and another year as a research assistant at Academia Sinica, I did my PhD work at the University of South Carolina, under the mentorship of Dr. Melissa Moss. There I studied amyloid-beta protein misfolding and aggregation involved in Alzheimer’s disease. After I received PhD in Biomedical Engineering in 2014, later the same year I joined Dr. Cohen’s research group at UNC. Currently, in the Cohen lab, I am working on the post-translational modification of tau protein and its role in different stages of neurodegenerative diseases and lifespan. In addition, I have collaborative research projects with Dr. Rick Meeker, and Dr. Graham Diering at UNC, Dr. Jerry Wang, and Dr. Laurie Sanders at Duke, Dr. John Hong at NIEHS as well as Dr. Anne Taylor at Xona Microfluidics. In my free time, I enjoy my time with my son Daniel and driving my car around.

Here is my CV

Hanna obtained her PhD from the Cohen lab as an 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.

Vanya is an undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Medical Anthropology. She hopes to practice medicine and continue studying neurodegenerative disease in the future. Throughout her time in the Cohen lab, she has examined corpora amylacea in the hippocampus in regard to Alzheimer’s Disease and is currently observing how environmental factors affect ALS pathology. Outside of lab, Vanya enjoys reading, baking, and hiking.

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.

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.

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.