Our team

Patricia Aguilar Calvo, D.V.M, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Neurology, UAB
D.V.M. University Complutense, Madrid (Spain)
Ph.D. University Complutense, Madrid (Spain) (Mentor: Dr. Juan María Torres)
Post-doctoral Fellow, University of California, San Diego (Mentor: Dr. Christina Sigurdson)
I am the principal investigator for this lab.

Piyali Das, Researcher II
M.S in Zoology (Specialization in Cytogenetics and Molecular Biology), University of Kalyani (India)
I single-handedly keep the lab running. I am well-skilled in mouse colony management, genotyping, cell culture.

Saumya Digraskar, Graduate Student
M.S in Virology – National Institute of Virology (India)
I work on investigating the interactions between heparan sulfate proteoglycans and aggregated proteins to better understand their role in neurodegenerative diseases. I also focus on developing strategies aimed at improving the clearance mechanisms of aggregated proteins associated with neurodegeneration.

Jaewon Huh, Undergraduate Researcher
Neuroscience, M.S. in Public Health
I am performing a thesis on the role of heparan sulfate in the selective cell vulnerability of α-synuclein aggregates.

Laurel C. Fox, Undergraduate Researcher
Neuroscience, M.S. in Public Health
I assist with histology for neuronal incorporation studies as well as participate in mouse colony management and genotyping.

Sai Garlanka, Undergraduate Researcher
Neuroscience, M.S. in Public Health
Early Medical School Acceptance Program
I help take care of our lab’s mice colonies and participate in the neuronal incorporation and heparin binding assays. 

Musaab Khan, Undergraduate Researcher
M.S. in Multidisciplinary Biomedical Sciences
I participate in mouse colony management and genotyping as well as general lab maintenance tasks.

Abigail Songer, Undergraduate Researcher
Neuroscience, M.S. in Multidisciplinary Biomedical Sciences
I help take care of our lab’s mice colonies, genotyping experiments, and lab maintenance. I also participate in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) extraction studies.