Lab Members
The Cohen Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Todd Cohen
Since 2014, I’ve been privileged to be an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at UNC-Chapel Hill. Prior to that, I attended Duke University as a graduate student and became enamored with North Carolina. Now, we seek to fully … Read more
Lab Manager
Graduate Students
Kyle Pellegrino
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 … Read more
Carli Opland – Neuroscience
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 … Read more
Julie Necarsulmer
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 … Read more
Shannon Rhoads
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 … Read more
Baggio Evangelista – Biochemistry and Biophysics
Baggio is a third-year Ph.D. candidate and NSF fellow in the Department of Cell Biology and Phisiology. Before coming to UNC for graduate studies, Baggio received a B.S. in Molecular and Microbiology at the University of Central Florida (UCF). There … Read more
Post-doc Fellows
Jui-Heng “Henry” Tseng
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 … Read more
Giulia Fragola
After graduating with a M.S. in Molecular Biology from Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca in Milan I joined the European School of Molecular Medicine where I obtained my Ph.D degree. For my graduate work, I studied the role of Polycomb … Read more
Miles Bryan
Miles graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a B.S. in Marine Biology. Soon after, he worked as a research technician in the lab of Dr. Nancy Andrews at Duke University where he focused on characterizing in … Read more
Research Assistants
Nicholas Zullo
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. … Read more
Darien Campisi
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 … Read more
Sara Nafees
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. … Read more
Nicholas Zullo
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. … Read more
Darien Campisi
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 … Read more
Sara Nafees
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. … Read more
Undergraduate Students
Aditi Ajit
Vanya Bhat
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 … Read more
Jasmeet Singh
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 … Read more
Camryn Isemann
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 … Read more
Omeed Arooji
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 … Read more
Vanya Bhat
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 … Read more
Jasmeet Singh
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 … Read more
Camryn Isemann
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 … Read more
Omeed Arooji
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 … Read more
Lab Alumni
Deepa Viswanathan Ajit
I received my PhD in Chemistry and Biochemistry from University of Missouri- St Louis, where I worked in the laboratory of Dr. Michael. R. Nichols. My broad research interests involve exploring the mechanism of neurological disorders and studies leading to … Read more
Bhavi Vohra
Bhavi graduated with a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology (minor in Global Poverty and Practice) from UC Berkeley in 2013. She was involved with genetics and neural development research in undergrad and went on to work in industry on … Read more
Youjun Chen
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 … Read more
Connor Wander – Pharmacology
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 … Read more
Jui-Heng “Henry” Tseng
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 … Read more
Hanna Trzeciakiewicz – Biochemistry and Biophysics
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 … Read more
Spencer Maranto
Spencer is a fourth year undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. He is double majoring in Biology and Neuroscience with a minor in Chemistry in the hopes of studying neurodegenerative disease in the future. Outside of the lab, Spencer enjoys playing guitar, … Read more
Tejaz Ajit
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 … Read more
Suvleen Singh
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 … Read more
Zarin Tabassum
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 … Read more
Robby Perna
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. … Read more
Diamond King
Niyati Patel
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