Presidential Fellowship in Collaborative Neuroscience
The Provost's Office, in collaboration with the UVA Brain Institute, is proud to support the presidential graduate fellowship program to promote cross-Grounds collaborative neuroscience research.
We seek to bring together neuroscientists from different divisions (e.g., College of Arts & Sciences, School of Medicine, and School of Engineering & Applied Sciences) to tackle important questions and perform transformative work that will differentiate our research enterprise. Projects may be on any subject related to neuroscience. Evidence of prior collaboration is not required, and the creation of new partnerships is encouraged.
Each year, rising 3rd or 4th year graduate students are eligible to apply. Proposals should provide evidence that the student will be jointly guided by at least 2 faculty members in a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment on a synergistic project with the potential to generate transformative science. Details regarding the application process and eligibility are released annually prior to the application period.
2024 Fellows:
Becky Waugh- Psychology | Mentors: Per Sederberg, PhD, Psychology; Jessica Connelly, PhD, Psychology
Becky Waugh is a 4th year PhD student in the Psychology department. She is co-mentored by Drs. Per Sederberg and Jessica Connelly. Her research focuses on understanding individual trajectories of aging and neurodegeneration. Using neuroimaging, epigenetic and computational modeling techniques, Becky's work seeks to better understand how early life adverse experiences and stress contribute to accelerated aging and worse health outcomes for older adults. A current project, working with the prairie vole (a biparental rodent), seeks to develop better methods for neuroimaging in this species and track and predict epigenetic and neural outcomes based on differences in parental care. Through this work, Becky will discover whether early life adversity can determine the course of aging into later years and how to more precisely predict an individual's life outcome at earlier time points. Eventually, Becky would like to work towards targeted interventions to prevent worsened health outcomes in later years due to early life adversity.
Roberta Onoharigho- Biology | Mentors: John Campell, PhD, Biology; Edward Nieh, PhD, Pharmacology
Roberta Onoharigho is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Biology. She is co-advised by Drs. John Campbell and Edward Nieh for her project investigating a novel population of hypothalamic neurons, which may stimulate adipose tissue to increase energy metabolism. Her research utilizes cutting-edge molecular tools and in vivo microscopy techniques to better understand these neuronal populations. This study will advance the field of energy homeostasis and inform the design of safe therapies to combat metabolic diseases.
Yu Shi- Biology | Mentors: Ali Güler, PhD, Biology; George Bloom, PhD, Biology
Yu Shi is a 4th year PhD student from the Biology Department, co-mentored by Dr. Ali Güler and Dr. George Bloom. She is interested in studying the interplay between the circadian system and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). She is designing a chronotherapy with shorter light, time-restricted feeding and time-restricted exercise to enhance circadian entrainment in mice. Yu is doing a comprehensive work to characterize the effect of this chronotherapy on mice including circadian rhythm of the central pacemaker suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain, EEG recorded sleep, brain clearance and animal metabolism. She is applying this circadian treatment to different AD mouse models to determine its protective role against cognition decline and AD pathology. Her research goal is to unravel the mechanisms of circadian treatment in neurodegenerative disease and understand how different circadian entrainment cues work synergistically.
Tula Raghavan- Neuroscience | Mentors: Alban Gaultier, PhD, Neuroscience; Laura Newman, PhD, Cell Biology
Tula Raghavan is a 3rd year graduate student and medical scientist trainee in the lab of Dr. Alban Gaultier. Her research examines the role of oligodendrocytes, the myelinating glia of the CNS, in dementia. Specifically, she is investigating genomic damage in oligodendrocytes in the context of Alzheimer’s Disease using a combination of spatial transcriptomics, flow cytometry, and imaging techniques. She aims to elucidate the contribution of this cell type to the neurodegeneration and cognitive decline seen in Alzheimer’s Disease as well as uncover the mechanisms by which DNA damage contributes to innate immunity in the brain.
Kristofor Pas- Biomedical Engineering | Mentors: Gustavo Rohde, PhD, Biomedical Engineering; Min Park, MD, Neurosurgery
Kristofor Pas is a Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. student advised by Professor Gustavo Rohde. His research bridges mathematics and radiology, focusing on developing clinically relevant mathematical models. Currently, co-advised by Drs. Min Park and Natasha Ironside, Kristofor’s work aims to identify and model variables involved in hematoma expansion. Discovering such a model would significantly improve patient risk assessment and provide insight into the mechanisms of hematoma expansion, improving clinical outcomes.
Caeley Reever- Neuroscience | Mentors: Manoj Patel, PhD, Anesthesiology; Charles Farber, PhD, Public Health Sciences
Caeley Reever is a PhD candidate in the neuroscience program, working in the Patel and Farber labs. Combining the expertise of these two labs, Caeley is a translational researcher investigating the physiological and genetic downstream impact of Single Nucleotide Variants (SNVs) in the SCN8A gene encoding Nav1.6 ion channels in pediatric epileptic encephalopathy. Their research explores the potential role of CRISPR technologies, specifically Prime and Base Editing systems, to target and treat SCN8A epileptic encephalopathy. Caeley employs these systems within their designed mouse-adapted cell lines as well as in vivo with mus musculus models. Her long-term goal is to understand how gene therapy solutions could offer an alternative seizure treatment method that could enhance infantile survival as well as facilitate gene therapy solutions for other nervous system disorders. Currently, the pharmacological treatment options for SCN8A epileptic encephalopathy are unable to address the underlying genetic defects driving the disease, and thus cannot fully mitigate symptoms or prevent mortality. By targeting the root cause - the genetic mutations - our group aims to create personalized gene therapy solutions for this form of pediatric epilepsy.
