REC Scholar 2025

My lab investigates the mechanisms by which sensory neurons shape immunity and how these neuroimmune interactions contribute to the pathogenesis of human diseases. We combine techniques from neuroscience and immunology, mouse models of human diseases (infectious and non-infectious), and in vitro cultures of sensory neurons and immune cells to uncover the details of this neural control of immunity and to identify new approaches to treating immune-related diseases by targeting the sensory nervous system.

Abhi earned her Ph.D. in Immunology from Indiana University School of Medicine, where she investigated cytokine signaling pathways involved in lipid antigen presentation to innate lymphocytes called Natural Killer T (NKT) cells. Her interest in neuroimmunology led her to study CD4+ T cell-mediated motor neuron survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and peripheral nerve injury during her postdoctoral training at IUSM. She later joined Washington University in St. Louis, contributing to preclinical testing of antisense oligonucleotides targeting astrocytic α2-Na+/K+ ATPase in ALS. Currently, in the Karch Lab, Abhi investigates microglia-specific genetic risk factors for primary tauopathies, Alzheimer's disease and related dementias by leveraging human microglia-like cells differentiated from patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells.

• Email: iyera@wustl.edu

Michelle Rudman, MD, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow in aging and dementia at the Washington University Knight ADRC. She obtained her combined MD/PhD degree from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in 2019 and completed her adult neurology residency training at Washington University/Barnes Jewish Hospital in 2023. Dr. Rudman sees patients in the Washington University Memory Diagnostic Center and conducts research on Alzheimer's disease in the laboratory of Dr. David M. Holtzman. Dr. Rudman's research focuses on understanding the ways in which the adaptive immune response may be exacerbating neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in a mouse model of tauopathy. This research has important implications for understanding the ways in which the immune response contributes to Alzheimer's disease-related pathology.

Dr. Wade Self is an Instructor in the Department of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He has spent the past decade working with research teams in the academic and industrial setting to translate understanding of the basic neurobiology of disease into disease-modifying treatment strategies for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Alzheimer Disease. Wade’s current work aims to understand mechanisms outside of the central nervous that modify neuroimmune interactions in models of Alzheimer Disease-associated pathologies to discover new therapeutic targets and test innovative approaches for AD treatment and prevention.