Background

I am a neuroscientist and stem cell biologist with deep expertise in the biology of aging. My current research focuses on Alzheimer’s disease, brain aging, and cognitive decline. I have made important discoveries on aging, stem cells, protein homeostasis, and metabolism, and have published many peer-reviewed articles in prestigious journals such as Nature and Science, and my work already has over 1,800 citations. I have been invited to present at leading national and international conferences, have won many awards, fellowships and grants, and was selected to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

Training

I am currently an NIH/NIA K99/R00 Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University working in the lab of Dr. Karl Deisseroth, a world-renowned neuroscientist and bioengineer who developed the groundbreaking technology optogenetics. I previously completed a joint four year BA/MS program in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology/Bioengineering at Harvard University, then my PhD at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) in the Biophysics program within the Integrative Program in Quantitative Biology with Dr. Emmanuelle Passegué, a leader in the fields of stem cell biology and the biology of aging.

Education

BA/MS, Harvard University, 2012

PhD, UCSF, 2017

Postdoctoral fellowship, Stanford University, 2018-present

Research

In college at Harvard, I studied epithelial stem cells and also developed a novel nanoparticle drug delivery system, work I published in an article as the lead author. Then during my PhD at UCSF, I discovered new mechanisms of hematopoietic stem cell aging and metabolic control, published in another lead author article in Nature. I studied life-extension rejuvenation interventions (such as calorie restriction, exercise, and parabiosis—where a young and old mouse are stitched together to share blood systems) and longevity paradigms (such as long-lived and short-lived mouse models, ie the “Benjamin Button” disease) in another lead author article published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. I also contributed to numerous other discoveries on stem cell aging, rejuvenation, and proteostasis, including an article in Science where we discovered similar mechanisms of aging in neural stem cells.

Now at Stanford, I am utilizing next-generation systems neuroscience techniques to study the mechanistic role of abnormal changes in neural activity in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and cognitive decline. There is a surprising lack of direct evidence on whether changes in neural activity play a causative role in AD and cognitive decline, let alone the mechanisms. This is a significant knowledge gap in our understanding. Using single-neuron resolution 2-photon calcium imaging in the brains of AD mice throughout disease progression, I have discovered aberrant network activity dynamics, reduced information content, and loss of encoding of learning in AD neurons. I developed precise optogenetic manipulations of this aberrant neural activity that uses light delivered into the brain through optical fibers to activate specific neurons during learning tests, and have fully restored learning abilities that were completely lost in AD mice. This discovery mechanistically proves for the first time that changes in neural activity directly cause cognitive decline in AD, and can be reversed to restore learning abilities.

This groundbreaking work will be extremely impactful for the field, as it shows that even after a complete loss of learning ability, the AD brain still has the potential to be restored. Furthermore, it demonstrates the importance of specifically targeting neural activity for restoration of cognitive abilities. Electrical and magnetic stimulation treatments are already used clinically on human AD patients, but nonspecifically with no rational design of targeted brain regions or stimulation protocols, resulting in inconsistent and negligible effects. This research will help inform intelligent design of new, precise, and earlier neural activity-based biomarkers, diagnostic strategies, and treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, I am applying this work to normal cognitive decline during aging, which will be a main focus of my future research.

My next goal is to become a professor at a leading academic institution and to start my own lab, integrating my expertise in systems neuroscience, aging biology, stem cell biology, and the blood system to make significant contributions to the understanding and treatment of the aging and neurodegenerative disease. I plan to develop next-generation strategies to delay, stop, or even reverse aging and disease to enable longer, healthier, disease-free lives.

Honors and awards

My work has been rewarded with many fellowships, grants, private donations, awards, nominations, and invited presentations at leading conferences. During my PhD, I obtained three different fellowships and a large grant on my research. During my postdoc, I was selected to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Science list, received a prestigious K99/R00 Pathway to Independence grant from the National Institute on Aging, received a prestigious Jane Coffin Childs fellowship, and have already received donations from private donors for my research and for the upcoming opening of my lab.

2024                      Private charitable donations, numerous private donors

2024                      Charitable grant, Private family foundation

2023                      Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00), National Institute of Aging, National Institutes of Health

2019                      Postdoctoral Fellowship, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund

2019                      TEDx invited speaker,TEDx Middlebury College

2019                      Forbes 30 under 30 List, science category, Forbes magazine

2017                      Merit Award Winner, International Society for Stem Cell Research

2017                      Selected oral presenter, Gordon Research Conference: Stem Cells & Cancer

2017                      Travel Award Winner, UCSF Graduate Division

2017                      Travel Award Winner,Seahorse Bioscience

2016                      Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award Nomination

2016                      Travel Award, Selected oral presenter, American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting

2016                      Predoctoral Fellowship, Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging

2016                      Julius Krevans Fellowship Nomination (one nominee from entire PhD program)

2016                      Travel Award, Selected oral presenter, International Society for Stem Cell Research

2016                      NIA Scholarship Travel Award, Selected oral presenter, Keystone Symposium: Epigenetic and Metabolic Regulation of Aging and Aging-Related Diseases

2015                      Best Poster Award, Bay Area Aging Meeting

2015                      Travel Award, Selected oral presenter, American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting

2015                      Predoctoral Fellowship, American Heart Association (1.56th percentile)

2015                      Julius Krevans Fellowship Nomination

2015                      Selected presenter and Travel Award, Else Kröner-Fresenius Symposium on Adult Stem Cells in Aging, Diseases and Cancer

2014                      Travel Award, American Society for Cell Biology

2014                      Julius Krevans Fellowship Nomination

2014                      Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Fellowship

2013                      Honorable Mention, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

2013                      Travel Award, American Society for Cell Biology

2012                      Predoctoral Fellowship, Quantitative Biosciences Consortium, UCSF

2012                      Dean’s Fellowship, Scripps Research Institute (declined)

2011                      Winner, Therapeutics category, University Research and Entrepreneurship Symposium

2011                      Top 10 Life Sciences Entry, MIT 100K Entrepreneurship Competition

2011                      Undergraduate Fellowship,Harvard College Research Program

2009                      Undergraduate Fellowship, Harvard College Research Program

2008                      National Cum Laude Society

Experience

Positions and Scientific Appointments

2023-present        NIH/NIA K99/R00 Postdoctoral Fellow, laboratory of Dr. Karl Deisseroth, Stanford

                              University, Palo Alto, CA

2019-2022             HHMI Fellow of the Jane Coffin Childs Fund, laboratory of Dr. Karl Deisseroth, Howard     Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

2018-present        Postdoctoral Scholar, laboratory of Dr. Karl Deisseroth, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

2013-2017             PhD Student, laboratory of Dr. Emmanuelle Passegué, UCSF, San Francisco, CA

2012-2013             Rotation Student, laboratories of Dr. Emmanuelle Passegué, Dr. Cynthia Kenyon, Dr. James Wells, and Dr. Jason Cyster, UCSF, San Francisco, CA

2010-2012             Research Assistant, laboratory of Dr. Debra Auguste, Harvard School of Engineering and

                              Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA

2010-2012             Research Assistant, group of Dr. Richard Freeman, Harvard University/National Bureau of

                              Economic Research, Cambridge, MA

2009-2010             Research Assistant, laboratory of Dr. Jayaraj Rajagopal, Massachusetts General

                                    Hospital/Harvard University, Boston, MA

2009                                        Research Assistant, laboratory of Dr. Douglas Melton, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

2005-2008             Summer Intern, Hydra Biosciences, Cambridge, MA

Other Positions

2024-present        Consultant, stealth neuroscience start-up company, Palo Alto, CA

2017-present        Ad Hoc Consultant, various companies, universities, and funds

2012                      Summer Analyst, Bessemer Venture Partners, Cambridge, MA

2012                       Product Management Intern, Merck Serono, Rockland, MA

2011                         Business Development Intern, Neurology, Biogen Idec, Cambridge, MA

2010-2011             Co-Founder, OncoLyse, potential start-up company out of the Harvard Medical

School, winner of 2011 URES business plan competition, Cambridge, MA

2011                                        Venture Capital Intern, YFY Biotech Management Company, Taipei, Taiwan