Biography

I'm currently a postdoctoral associate in the laboratory of Professor Myriam Heiman at MIT Brain & Cognitive Sciences, where I recently defended my thesis (Oligodendrocyte progenitor cell heterogeneity in normal aging and neurodegeneration).

I received my undergraduate degree at Harvard College, where I studied neurobiology and mathematical sciences. Of interest to some current students, I was a member of the inaugural cohort of LS50: Integrated Science, an experimental year-long integrated science course. During my undergrad years, I conducted research at Cellino Biotech, Biogen Inc, and the laboratory of Zhigang He (HMS/BCH).

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

You can read about my work in CV form here.

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

I helped to develop lesson materials and curricula for 9.00.1x: Science of Learning and Memory (MITx) and MCB80x: Fundamentals of Neuroscience (HarvardX). You can see some examples of my visual design work for the latter here. I was also a discussion moderator for all three MCB80x courses from 2019–2020.

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.

I edit Wikipedia regularly and affiliate with WikiProject Neuroscience.