KYAD-PREP Training

Research Labs

Dr. Jiang’s research focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms underlying sensory perception and cognition in healthy and clinical populations. Her laboratory utilizes approaches of psychophysics and cognitive neuroscience, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and neurophysiological signals (EEG/ERPs, MEG), to develop pathophysiological biomarkers in human populations.

Dr. Rhodus focuses on developing environmental and behavioral interventions that improve the quality of life for people living with and caring for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD) patients. Her interests include developing advanced assessment tools to better understand interactions between patients and their environments.

The Sunderam laboratory develops and utilizes EEG acquisition, signal processing, and control, mainly for brain state tracking and modulation to investigate sleep and epilepsy in humans and animal models. His lab has recently performed pioneering work on how sleep and temperature regulation relate to Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD).

Dr. Murphy’s research is centered around understanding the production and clearance of the amyloid-β peptide (Aβ), largely involving genetically modified mice. Recently, Dr. Murphy has moved towards the investigation of how common processes operate at the interface of aging and neurologic disease, including complex physiological processes such as sleep and metabolism, and how these processes impact ADRD pathogenesis.

Dr. Selenica’s research focuses on molecular pathways of post-translational modifications involved in tau and TDP-43 proteinopathies, with applications to therapeutic approaches for ADRD. Her laboratory uses cell culture, histopathology, biochemistry, proteomics, mouse models, and behavioral approaches to improve understanding of the mechanisms underlying TDP-43 pathology.

Dr. Reschke- Hernandez utilizes quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches to investigate the mechanisms and effects of music-based interventions on health and well-being for persons with dementia. She has decades of experience mentoring students at various stages (high school to graduate), including over 100 music therapy students in pre-internship and advanced graduate practicum experiences.

Dr. Bahrani’s research focuses on developing, standardizing, and automating MRI and PET neuroimaging post-processing pipelines, biomarkers, and data analysis, targeting Alzheimer’s disease, vascular cognitive impairment, and dementia.

Dr. Jicha’s research is largely focused on clinical-translational research engagement during the human clinical phases of discovery. As Director of the Clinical Core of the UK-Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (UK-ADRC) and PI for all major clinical research activities in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) at the University of Kentucky, his laboratory is a fertile training ground for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees across a range of disciplines. He conducts research across all phases of human clinical trials, from proof-of-concept to Phase I, II, and III studies of promising agents in the areas of AD, Lewy Body Dementia, Vascular Dementia, and other disorders, such as limbic-predominant, age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE). His research areas of interest also include clinical-neuropathological correlative studies, strong work and emphasis on cerebrovascular contributions to ADRD, and in the area of AD-mimics, an emphasis on human biomarker studies for ADRD, including blood, spinal fluid, electroencephalography, retinal imaging, and imaging modalities (fMRI and PET).

Dr. Schmitt is a classically trained neuropsychologist. His research focuses on clinical symptoms and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, epilepsy, and memory development and aging. This work focuses on associations of brain imaging, metabolic markers, and neuropathology as they relate to ADRD, Down syndrome, and neurocognition.

Dr. Stowe’s lab focuses on understanding the immune system’s critical roles in diseases affecting the CNS and the CNS response to injury. Specifically, her research identifies immune cell phenotypes and mechanisms associated with functional recovery after ischemic stroke. This is achieved through genetic, molecular, and behavioral approaches in neuroscience and immunology.

Dr. Yamasaki’s laboratory investigates the aggregating protein alpha-synuclein and its variants, which accumulate in Parkinson’s disease and other related synucleinopathies. She is also the PI of the NeuroBank, which collects and stores biospecimens from subjects being evaluated and treated for neurologic conditions at the UK's Albert B. Chandler Hospital and the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute.

Dr. Bachstetter aims to uncover the cellular and molecular basis of cell-cell interactions after TBI and determine how they connect to ADRD. He has spent over 15 years in the field of cytokine/chemokine signaling in the CNS and CNS drug discovery for neuroinflammatory treatments.

Dr. Bradley's research utilizes approaches at the interface of chemistry, biochemistry, and neurobiology to discover and develop peptide and protein-based molecules as platforms for various medical, biotechnical, and biotherapeutic applications, including biotherapeutics targeting the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

The long-term goals for Dr. Ebbert’s lab are to help develop meaningful therapies and pre-symptomatic diagnostics for ADRD. Dr. Ebbert’s group uses bioinformatics approaches to help identify clear mechanisms driving disease that can be targeted directly.

Dr. Gerhardt's laboratory specializes in dopamine and glutamate neurotransmitter systems in Parkinson’s disease, aging, and ADRD, using innovative microsensor techniques to analyze neurotransmitter regulation. Key findings have led to bench-to-bedside applications to restore neuron function, including using growth factors like GDNF and nerve tissue, to advance into multiple clinical trials for Parkinson’s disease patient treatments.

Dr. Lee’s lab studies models of proteinopathies, including tauopathies and AD. His recent focus has been on the interactions between arginine metabolism and polyamine biology in tauopathies during stress responses in ADRD and how these reactions promote feedforward loops. His group also studies how brain metabolism and impaired nutrient sensing impact proteinopathy disorders.

The long-term goal of Dr. Van Eldik’s research is to develop safe and effective therapeutics for ADRD and acute brain injury by targeting dysregulated neuroinflammation, focusing on signal transduction pathways that mediate the neuroinflammatory responses of activated astrocytes and microglia. Her collaborative studies have resulted in the discovery of new classes of small-molecule drug candidates that modulate glia dysfunction with resultant attenuation of neuropathology progression. Three drug candidates have advanced into human clinical trials for multiple indications (AD, radiation-induced cognitive impairment, and acute brain injury). Her research approaches range from basic cell and molecular research to preclinical animal models to therapeutic testing of new drug candidates, providing trainees with a range of research opportunities across the drug discovery continuum.

Research in the Johnson lab is dedicated to understanding the role of the AD risk factor Apolipoprotein E (APOE) in cerebral metabolism. With a special focus on glia and their contributions to neurodegeneration, Dr. Johnson’s laboratory employs a variety of transcriptomic and metabolomic approaches (from cells to mice to humans) in order to identify early-life changes in metabolism associated with APOE.

Dr. Macauley’s lab focuses on how alterations in metabolism contribute to the development of ADRD pathology and how metabolic function interacts with sleep and circadian biology to drive the disease process. Her lab uses a range of state-of-the-art approaches, including in vivo biosensors and small animal neuroimaging.

Dr. Miller’s research focuses on evaluating large genomic datasets to investigate the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease and improving genetic models for disease trajectories through polygenic risk scores. He is also part of the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine initiative at the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Nelson studied neurodegenerative disease neuropathology since the early 1990s, working extensively with the late Dr. John Trojanowski. Dr. Nelson’s work provides insight into how genetics influences ADRD and LATE. Dr. Nelson is the director of the UK-ADRC biobank, one of the richest brain banks in the world for combining detailed clinical histories with antemortem and postmortem data.

Dr. Wang's research focuses on the impact of microRNAs on ADRD and TBI, particularly in terms of neuroinflammation and APOE regulation. Their team has devised an innovative liposome-based microRNA delivery system for potentially treating neuroinflammation in these conditions. Additionally, Dr. Wang is deeply interested in identifying biofluid biomarkers for ADRD, with a special emphasis on microRNAs.

Dr. Hartz’s research program focuses on the regulation of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), the role of environmental factors, and how a dysfunctional BBB contributes to neurodegeneration. Recently, Dr. Hartz and her team have developed therapeutic strategies to repair BBB dysfunction and to lower amyloid-β burden with the goal of preventing memory loss in ADRD.

Dr. Nikolajczyk's research explores the immune system's involvement in obesity, type 2 diabetes, and periodontal disease, focusing on the molecular mechanisms behind their pro-inflammatory activities. Her research combines human and mouse studies to advance the molecular understanding of mechanisms responsible for inflammation and neuroinflammation.

Dr. Norris’ research is focused on cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in normal aging and ADRD. A major focus is on Ca2+ dependent transcriptional pathways in reactive astrocytes and how these pathways contribute to ADRD. The Norris lab targets astrocyte signaling using various genetic tools and uses advanced physiologic techniques like electrophysiology and intravital multiphoton microscopy to assess synaptic networks, neurovascular coupling, and astrocyte Ca2+ dynamics.

The Sompol laboratory utilizes cutting-edge intravital imaging techniques to investigate the function and interaction of brain cells (neurons and astrocytes) with the cerebrovasculature to investigate different aspects of reactive astrocytes in the brain and how these systems relate to ADRD. His lab also uses electrophysiologic approaches to characterize the synaptic function of animal models of ADRD.

Dr. Bauer’s research investigates the role the blood-brain barrier plays in epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, and brain cancer. His research uses biochemical and molecular methods, as well as ex vivo/in vivo approaches, isolating brain capillaries from acute seizure and chronic epilepsy models, as well as epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease patients.

Dr. Gensel’s research investigates the dual role of activated macrophages in neurotrauma and understanding the neuroinflammatory responses to spinal cord injury and central nervous system injury. His lab has developed assays to identify macrophage phenotypes and immunomodulatory drugs to promote the CNS repair.

The Hubbard lab focuses on the pathobiology of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the development of therapeutics in preclinical models to enhance recovery. TBI, long connected to ADRD, leads to diverse neurological and systemic issues, including problems with memory, anxiety, and social interactions. Their research integrates behavior and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and therapeutic development.

Dr. Fardo’s research program focuses on the development of statistical genetics methodologies and novel applications in the context of neurodegenerative disease. He is a member of several large genomics consortia, including the Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC) and the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program.