Past Scholars

Andrew (Andy) Aschenbrenner, PhD is an Instructor of Neurology at Washington University in St. Louis. He has expertise in the development, administration, and analysis of cognitive and behavioral tests in healthy older adults and individuals with preclinical and very mild Alzheimer disease (AD). His current interests include evaulating the utility of intraindividual variability in cognition and personality as predictors of AD risk. He is also interested in applying novel statistical techniques (e.g., dynamic structural equation modeling) and computational models to further understand cognitive changes in the earliest stages of AD.

• Email: a.aschenbrenner@wustl.edu

Dr. Gengsheng Chen is a Senior Scientist in the department of Radiology at Washington University in St. Louis. She completed her PhD in Computational Biophysics at University of Missouri, Columbia, which was followed by a three year T-32 postdoc training in Genetic Epidemiology. She has been working with Dr. Benzinger since 2018, where she is focused on how baseline and longitudinal biomarkers predict cognitive decline for individuals with early stage Alzheimer disease. She is also studying brain network using graph theory and works with Dr. Benzinger as well as Dr. Cruchaga to investigate genetic risk factors for Alzheimer disease progression.

• Email: allisonchen@wustl.edu

My research interests lie in the field of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. More specifically, I am interested in the development of computational algorithms and machines learning approaches to integrate and interpret multiple large-scale modalities of “omics” data to better understand the biology of multiple neurodegenerative diseases with more emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease.

• Phone: 314-273-1560
• Email: eteleeb@wustl.edu

Research interests include: neuroimaging, neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer disease, neuroscience

• Phone: 314-273-8261
• Email: n.joseph@wustl.edu

Dr. Eva Klinman is an Instructor in Neurology and works in the lab of Dr. Andrew Yoo. She completed her neurology residency and fellowship in movement disorders at WashU. During her PhD at UPenn she studied organelle transport and microtubule motor proteins in an ALS system. In the Yoo lab, she is studying the contribution of mitochondrial dysfunction and cytoskeletal disarray to the onset and progression of neurodegeneration. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her puppy (Midna), her 30+ freshwater fish, and painting fun designs on her nails.

• Email: eklinman@wustl.edu

Dr. Tom Lin is an instructor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, working with Dr. Benjamin A. Garcia. He completed his PhD research in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Tennessee and postdoc training in Chemical Proteomics at the University of Pennsylvania. His primary research focuses are the discovery, biological functions, and therapeutical potentials of posttranslational arginylation using chemical, proteomic, and biochemical approaches. One of his main projects is to unveil the roles of arginylation in the progression of tauopathies and Alzheimer disease.

• Email: zongtao@wustl.edu

Dr. Long’s research interests include understanding the pathophysiology of Alzheimer disease, specifically as it relates to the role of cholesterol metabolism in modulating the immune response in animal models of Alzheimer disease pathology.

• Email: justin.m.long@wustl.edu

Originally from New Zealand, I am an Instructor (Radiology) working in the Neuroimaging Laboratories Research Center (NIL-RC). Broadly, I am interested in understanding heterogeneous cognitive trajectories across the lifespan, and in (Alzheimer) disease. I am currently working on projects that aim to understand the relationship between tauopathy and white matter degeneration, as well as their combined downstream influence on cognition. I am particularly interested in exploring whether unique patterns of tau protein seeding and spread, along with tau-mediated disruption to local white matter structures, can partially explain the heterogeneous cognitive outcomes associated with Alzheimer disease.

• Email: n.mckay@wustl.edu

Dr. Karin Meeker is a post-doctoral researcher in the Ances lab. She completed her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at Saint Louis University. Her primary goal is to further the understanding of disease pathogenesis and progression of Alzheimer disease (AD) using multimodal methods. Since beginning her position, Karin’s work has largely focused on the utilization of emerging markers of inflammation and neurodegeneration to determine how they are associated and interact with established neuroimaging biomarkers of AD. She is also interested in ethno-racial differences in AD biomarkers and the effects of social determinants of health.

• Phone: 314-236-7500
• Email: kmeeker@wustl.edu

Dr. Peter Millar completed his PhD in Psychological & Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis in 2020, working with Dr. Dave Balota, where he focused on cognitive changes in healthy aging and early Alzheimer disease. He further trained as a postdoctoral research associate with Dr. Beau Ances in the Department of Neurology at Wash U, where he completed additional training in functional and structural neuroimaging methods. He is now an Instructor in Neurology at Wash U. His primary research interests involve using multimodal neuroimaging and advanced computational techniques to study the effects of aging and Alzheimer disease on the brain and how they related to cognition.

• Email: pmillar@wustl.edu