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 in 2019. She defended in 2023. Julie graduated from Pomona College in 2015, where she studied 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 researched 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 investigated 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.

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.

 

 

 

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.

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.

Shannon is a graduate student in the Neuroscience Curriculum. She graduated from the 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.

Baggio studied in the Cohen Lab and received his Ph.D. from the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology in 2023. Before coming to UNC for graduate studies, Baggio received a B.S. in Molecular and Microbiology at the University of Central Florida (UCF). There he studied epigenetic regulation of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson’s disease in the laboratory of Dr. Yoon-Seong Kim. From there, Baggio collaborated with Dr. Dmitri Kolpashchikov in the UCF Department of Chemistry where he designed a biosensor for pathological alpha-synuclein. After graduating in May 2017, Baggio joined the lab of Dr. Kenneth Teter where he investigated the biochemical properties of a molecular chaperone, Protein Disulfide Isomerase, and its ability to disaggregate alpha-synuclein and amyloid beta fibrils as a pan-therapeutic for neurodegenerative proteinopathies. In his graduate studies and now as a post-doc, Baggio is investigating 1) a gene therapy strategy for eliminating ALS-associated TDP-43 proteinopathy in vivo using Protein Disulfide Isomerase and 2) T-cell-mediated neuroinflammation in ALS.

 

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.