Biography

Audrey Effenberger

I'm currently a PhD candidate in the laboratory of Professor Li-Huei Tsai at MIT Brain & Cognitive Sciences.

I received my undergraduate degree at Harvard College, where I studied neurobiology and mathematical sciences. Of interest to some current students, I was in the very first cohort of LS50: Integrated Science, an experimental year-long integrated science course, and I started working for MCB80x: The Fundamentals of Neuroscience, an online course spanning cells to circuits and beyond. During my undergrad years, I conducted research at Cellino Biotech, Biogen Inc, and Zhigang He's lab (HMS/BCH).

Very, very broadly, my research interests include the following:

  • Oligodendrocyte lineage cells
  • Neuron-glia interactions
  • -omics profiling of neurodegenerative disease
  • Brain metabolism
  • iPSC-derived modeling
  • Regenerative medicine

You can read about my work in CV form here.

Links

Publications

APOE4 impairs myelination via cholesterol dysregulation in oligodendrocytes.
JW Blanchard et al. Nature, 16 Nov 2022. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05439-w

Lipid accumulation induced by APOE4 impairs microglial surveillance of neuronal-network activity.
MB Victor et al. Cell Stem Cell, 4 Aug 2022. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2022.07.005

Cell of all trades: oligodendrocyte precursor cells in synaptic, vascular, and immune function.
LA Akay, AH Effenberger, LH Tsai. Genes & Development, 1 Feb 2021. doi: 10.1101/gad.344218.120

Seasonal changes in diet and toxicity in the Climbing Mantella frog (Mantella laevigata).
NA Moskowitz, et al. PLOS ONE, 26 Dec 2018. doi: 10.1101/361998

Outreach

I helped to develop lesson materials and curricula for MCB80x: Fundamentals of Neuroscience, an XSeries program offered by Harvard University via edX. You can see some examples of my visual design work for the courses here. I was also a discussion moderator for all three courses.

In response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, I designed infographics and produced videos about topics in Emergency Medicine for the Mass General COVID Urgent Resource Video Education (CURVE) platform.

As an undergrad, I wrote a few articles and designed the print magazine layout for the Harvard Science Review, a semesterly science publication

I edit Wikipedia regularly and affiliate with WikiProject Neuroscience.