NEWS

Standing room only at Morgan's poster at AAIC! We are all about weird DNA species and how they may contribute to neurodegeneration.

Frost lab PhD student Claira Sohn was selected to give an oral presentation for the Dr. Samuel M. Nabrit Conference for Early Career Scholars. The Nabrit Conference is hosted by the Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University. The meeting showcases trainees and early career investigators who are addressing challenging questions in biology and medicine through leadership and innovation. Way to go, Claira!

Meredith was awarded a Brown University Summer Advanced Undergraduate Research Fellowship! Meredith will be analyzing potential genetic modifiers of huntingtin-induced toxicity in Drosophila .

Morgan Lambert and Morgan Thomas tied for best poster at the 14th Annual Caregiver's Journey and Research Conference. In addition to programming focused on support for caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease, this conference brought together researchers across academic medical institutions and local universities to share their latest work and foster future collaborations. The event created a valuable opportunity for scientists in Rhode Island to learn from the live

Zach Uttke, MD/PhD student in the Brown MCB Graduate Program, successfully passed his qualifying exam and is officially a PhD candidate! Thanks to Dr. John Sedivy, Dr. Sofia Lizarraga and Dr. Marty Taylor for service on Zach's committee. Zach is focused on developing new assays for target engagement for nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors.

Results from our AntiRetroviral Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease (ART-AD) clinical trial are available online today and will be included in the inaugural issue of npj Dementia. We detected some positive effects of the HIV drug lamivudine (3TC) on biomarkers of neurodegeneration and are excited to continue therapeutic development in this area.

Bess was recently awarded the 2025 Rainwater Prize for Innovative Early-Career Scientist. Established in honor of Robert Rainwater, the Rainwater Prize celebrates early-career scientists who demonstrate exceptional potential and make notable discoveries in their fields. Awarded annually, this prize highlights originality, impact, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge.

We welcome Dr. Aly Cavalier, a recent graduate of Tom LaRocca's lab from University of Colorado Boulder and Dr. Yutaka Yamamoto, fly geneticist extraordinaire, to our team. We are thrilled to have these two highly skilled scientists on board!

The Greater Boston Medical Student Training in Aging Research (GBMSTAR) Program at Harvard Medical School hosted Zach for their 2024 summer internship while our lab was in transit from UTHSA to Brown. This highly competitive program is dedicated to helping medical students conduct clinically-oriented aging research and teaches foundational concepts in geriatric medicine. During his time in Boston, Zach worked in the lab of Dr. George Church at the Wyss Institute for Biologica

Please join us in congratulationg Claira Sohn, Frost lab Ph.D. student, who just received notice from the NIH NINDS that her F31 will be funded!! Claira recently presented her work at the Gordon Conferences on Intermediate Filaments in Barcelona, Spain. Read about Claira's project.