Kellianne Alexander
Kellianne is a postdoctoral fellow who joined our lab in April 2023. She is interested in studying the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying hyperexcitability and synaptic vulnerability in Alzheimer’s Disease using human derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
Nancy Ashour
Nancy is a Wellesley College graduate who joined the lab in the summer of 2022. A lot of her work involves the use of iPSC-derived microglia to better understand neurodegeneration. One of her research interests is centered on how microglia may be interacting with other cell types, especially neurons and astrocytes.
Zach Augur
Zach is a graduate student in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program at Harvard Medical School and joined our lab in the summer of 2021. Zach’s interests include autophagy dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease and the microbiota-gut-brain axis.
Aimee Aylward
Aimee joined our lab in May 2021 and has continued some of Lizzy’s work on a fluorescent synaptic release assay. She works mainly with iPSCs and neurons helping to develop tau knockout cell lines and has continued work on the pathology of trisomy 21 related to Alzheimer’s Disease. Outside of lab, Aimee enjoys reading and spending time in the city!
Courtney Benoit
Courtney is a graduate student in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program at Harvard Medical School and joined our lab in the summer of 2020. Courtney’s project involves the targeted investigation and functional characterization of genes implicated in neuropsychiatric disease using iPSC models.
Renee Brathwaite
Renee is a Senior Administrative Assistant who’s been helping the Young-Pearse lab since 2019. She is our point-person for grant submission, scheduling, onboarding of new lab members and other administrative lab business.
Ellie Grogan
Ellie is a Harvard undergraduate who joined our lab in the summer of 2022. She will be working with Alex Lish to investigate candidate pathways involved in the Blood-Brain-Barrier homeostasis and pathogenesis.
Bella Kim
Bella is an undergraduate at Harvard University and joined our lab in 2022. She works with Courtney Benoit to study genes involved in neurodevelopment and neuropsychiatric disease using iPSC models. Outside of lab, Bella enjoys reading and curating playlists.
Alex Lish
Alex is a graduate student in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program at Harvard Medical School and joined our lab in summer of 2021. She is studying blood-brain barrier dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease using an iPSC-derived BBB model.
Gwendolyn Orme
Gwen is a graduate of Middlebury College and joined the lab as a Technical Research Assistant in the summer of 2023. She is working with on projects relating to the molecular bases of Alzheimer’s disease. Outside of lab, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, swimming, hiking, and dancing. She plans to attend medical school in the fall of 2025.
Gizem Terzioglu
Gizem is a graduate student in the Program in Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and has been in our lab since Fall 2022. She is interested in how neurons and glia communicate with each other and how this communication might be changed or dysregulated in Alzheimer’s disease.
Richard V. Pearse II PhD
Richard is a Senior Scientist with more than 20 years experience in medical research. He has been with our lab since the spring of 2017 and is primarily responsible for -“omics” library development, data pipeline development, shiny app development, bioinformatics, lab management, and consultation.
Lilia Sattler
Lilia is a Skidmore College graduate who joined the lab as a Technical Research Assistant in the summer of 2023. They are studying the dysregulation of iPSC-derived inhibitory and excitatory communication within Alzheimer’s Disease. Outside of work, Lilia likes to knit and crochet, take long walks identifying plants, and cuddle their pet Peeve.
Richard Zhu
Richard is an undergraduate researcher from Harvard University and started in our lab in early 2023. He’s working with Zach to study the role of autophagic dysregulation in age-related neurodegeneration.
