NEWS

Congratulations to former Frost lab postdoctoral fellow Meghna Chinchankar on the publication of their chapter "Tracking Tau Multimerization in the Adult Drosophila Brain" in Translational Research Methods for Tauopathies. Meghna's methods include a proximity ligation assay (PLA) to detect and visualize tau-tau protein interactions in the fly brain, native PAGE-Western blot to resolve monomeric and high molecular weight tau multimers, and use of in vivo luminescence to assess

We are excited to share another new study from the lab! Development of an in vivo, screenable, split-luciferase based model of huntingtin multimerization Morgan G. Thomas, Simon A. Levy, Meredith H. Jenkins, Morgan Lambert, Bess Frost Huntington’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a poluglutamine (polyQ) expansion in exon 1 of the gene that encodes for the protein huntington (HTT), which drives HTT aggregation. Cellular mechanisms of HTT aggregation are incomp

We are excited to share that Frost lab undergraduate and rising junior Joanna Sohn was accepted to FlexMed at Mt. Sinai! The FlexMed program at the Icahn School of Medicine is a highly competitive early admissions program for medical school. Wowzer, Joanna, you are on a roll.

Congratulations to Dr. Morgan Thomas (pictured) and undergraduates Meredith Jenkins and Julianna Chang on their graduation!

We are excited to announce that Senior Research Scientist Dr. Mauricio Oliveira has recently joined the lab. Dr. Oliveira specializes in investigating how RNA metabolism and neuronal diversity shape cellular plasticity and memory, with a focus on how dysregulation of RNA-binding proteins, alternative splicing, and translation contribute to neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease. Mauricio earned his Ph.D. in Medical Biochemistry from the Federal University

Welcome to Aitana Zamora Varela, our summer undergraduate intern! Aitana is a rising senior at Mount Holyoke College with a double major in Neuroscience and Behavior and Psychology. During the regular year, Aitana works in the lab of Ken Colodner, where they study chromatin architecture in Drosophila models of tauopathy. In the Frost lab, Aitana is working with Ph.D. candidate Lulu Schulz to investigate mechanisms of retrotransposon-induced toxicity in tauopathy.

Props to Zach Uttke, Frost lab graduate student, who just received notice that his F30 will be funded by the National Institute on Aging!! The F30 program enhances the integrated research and clinical training of promising predoctoral students on the MD/PhD track. Zach is working to determine how nucleoside analogs such as 3TC reduce innate immune activation in response to pathogenic forms of tau.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Sohn on the successful defense of her dissertation, "Investigating the role of nuclear mechanotransduction in physiological and pathological settings." Thank you to all who attended, and to Claira's committee members for their thoughtful input and questions throughout the dissertation process: Dr. Lizhen Chen (committee member) Dr. James Donald Lechleiter (committee member) Dr. David Libich (committee member) Dr. Gregg Gundersen (external

Frost lab undergraduate researcher Meredith Jenkins received an Honorable Mention for best poster at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research!

Frost lab PhD student Lulu Schulz was selected as a speaker Research Matters, an event hosted by Brown University Graduate School. Her talk titled Ancient Viral Ghosts in Alzheimer’s Disease was selected from among 20 semifinalists. Research Matters is an annual event that bolsters intellectual exchange among graduate students, providing an opportunity to present research. With short talks aimed at an interdisciplinary audience, Research Matters celebrates the accomplishments