News and Events | Page 5 | Helen & Robert Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute

Burré lab member Dr. Lauren Komer graduates!

The Appel Institute community warmly congratulates Dr. Lauren Komer on her successful dissertation defense!

Dr. Komer’s completed her research titled “The Role of Membrane Binding of α-Synuclein in the Central and Enteric Nervous System” in the laboratory of Dr. Jacqueline Burré. Dr. David Simon served as her chair and was accompanied by Drs. David Eliezar and Giovanni Manfredi on her examining committee.

Congratulations again to Dr. Lauren Komer! We wish all the best on the next...

Tau activation of microglial cGAS–IFN reduces MEF2C-mediated cognitive resilience

The latest study from the Gan Lab, published in Nature Neuroscience, revealed a striking contribution of cGAS-interferon-MEF2C network to tau-induced neurotoxicities in Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. They found that tau-activation of cGAS in AD diminishes cognitive resilience by decreasing the neuronal transcriptional network of MEF2C through type I interferon (IFN-I) signaling.

The study was led by Dr. Sadaf Amin, Yige (Gloria) Huang, and Dr. Joe Udeochu in the...

Astrocytic TDP-43 dysregulation impairs memory by modulating antiviral pathways and interferon-inducible chemokines

A new study by the Orr lab, published in Science Advances, reveals that dementia-linked buildup of TDP-43 protein within astrocytes disrupts antiviral pathways and impairs aspects of cognitive function.

In collaboration with the Schwartz lab at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Froemke lab at New York University, the authors report that people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or frontotemporal dementia (FTD) had aberrant accumulation of TDP...

The Orr lab celebrates its first graduate student doctoral dissertation!

The Appel Institute community warmly congratulates Dr. Samantha Meadows-Ortiz on her successful dissertation defense!

Dr. Meadows-Ortiz’s research “Astrocytes Regulate Spatial Memory in a Sex-Specific Manner” was completed in Dr. Anna Orr’s laboratory. Dr. Anjali Rajadhyaksha, Chair, Dr. Olga Boudker, and Dr. Kristen Pleil served as members of her examining committee in addition to Dr. Orr. She is the first of many graduate students to come to complete their doctoral degree in Dr. Orr’...

Welcome Dr. Zhuhao Wu to Appel!

After extensive national searches since 2020 and reviews of hundreds of candidates, Appel Institute successfully recruited Dr. Zhuhao Wu, a highly accomplished neuroscientist. He and his team expand Appel Institute’s imaging capabilities of mouse and human brains to accelerate Alzheimer's disease therapies from bench to bedside.

Dr. Wu received his PhD in Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, working on how our brains are properly built to sense the environment using Drosophila...