Research
Our goal is to quantify protein and metabolic changes within their spatial, cellular, and subcellular context in the brain to discover their role in neurodegenerative diseases and aging.
Learn more.
Our research seeks to reveal how the molecular and morphological features defining types, states, and microenvironment of cells drive regional vulnerability of neurons to neuropsychiatric diseases and aging, by combining deep expertise in disease biology with novel tools for spatial imaging of metabolites and proteins to discover potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Specific brain regions and neuronal subpopulations are uniquely vulnerable to pathological changes during aging and the progression of neuropsychiatric diseases. We will use spatial proteomic and metabolic profiling to uncover contributors to regional vulnerability at the tissue level. Moreover, we will identify the molecular and morphological phenotypes of cells in the microenvironment of vulnerable neurons to distinguish cellular and subcellular phenomena underlying selective vulnerability or resilience. The molecular and cellular contributors to neuronal vulnerability generated from our studies will provide a roadmap for discovery of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets in neuropsychiatric diseases.
We use immunohistochemical staining, microscopy, and image analysis using computational tools that encompass 3D reconstruction and stereological principles.
Learn more.
Our unique approach brings together multiple, novel imaging tools to help fill knowledge gaps on the spatial differences in proteins and metabolites and the cellular microenvironment contributing to neuronal and regional vulnerability. We will detect differential metabolite and protein levels using mass spectrometry imaging to unveil the spatial correlates of vulnerability at the tissue level. We will quantify molecular and morphological phenotypes of non-neuronal cell types in the microenvironment of vulnerable neurons using multiplexed immunofluorescence imaging to add cellular context. Integrating the molecular and cellular profiles covarying at the tissue and cellular levels will reveal patterns spatially segregating with neuronal vulnerability.
Publications
2023
Ferreira, A.C., Hemmer, B.M., Philippi, S.M., Grau-Perales, A.B., Rosenstadt, J.L., Liu, H., Zhu, J.D., Kareva, T., Ahfeldt, T., Varghese, M., Hof, P.R., Castellano, J.M. (2023) Neuronal TIMP2 regulates hippocampus-dependent plasticity and extracellular matrix complexity. Mol Psychiatry. doi: 10.1038/s41380-023-02296-5.
Costantini, I., Morgan, L., Yang, J., Balbastre, Y., Varadarajan, D., Pesce, L., Scardigli, M., Mazzamuto, G., Gavryusev, V., Castelli, F.M., Roffilli, M., Silvestri, L., Laffey, J., Raia, S., Varghese, M., Wicinski, B., Chang, S., Chen, I.A., Wang, H., Cordero, D., Vera, M., Nolan, J., Nestor, K., Mora, J., Iglesias, J.E., Garcia Pallares, E., Evancic, K., Augustinack, J.C., Fogarty, M., Dalca, A.V., Frosch, M.P., Magnain, C., Frost, R., van der Kouwe, A., Chen, S.C., Boas, D.A., Pavone, F.S., Fischl, B., Hof, P.R. (2023) A cellular resolution atlas of Broca’s area. Sci Adv 9, eadg3844. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adg3844.
Eyford, B.A., Lazarczyk, M.J., Choi, K.B., Varghese, M., Arora, H., Kari, S., Munro, L., Pfeifer, C.G., Sowa, A., Dickstein, D.R., Dickstein, D.L., Jefferies, W.A. (2023) Outside-in signaling through the major histocompatibility complex class-I cytoplasmic tail modulates glutamate receptor expression in neurons. Sci Rep 13, 13079. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-38663-z.
Hawrylycz, M., Martone, M.E., Ascoli, G.A., Bjaalie, J.G., Dong, H.W., Ghosh, S.S., Gillis, J., Hertzano, R., Haynor, D.R., Hof, P.R., Kim, Y., Lein, E., Liu, Y., Miller, J.A., Mitra, P.P., Mukamel, E., Ng, L., Osumi-Sutherland, D., Peng, H., Ray, P.L., Sanchez, R., Regev, A., Ropelewski, A., Scheuermann, R.H., Tan, S.Z.K., Thompson, C.L., Tickle, T., Tilgner, H., Varghese, M., Wester, B., White, O., Zeng, H., Aevermann, B., Allemang, D., Ament, S., Athey, T.L., Baker, C., Baker, K.S., Baker, P.M., Bandrowski, A., Banerjee, S., Bishwakarma, P., Carr, A., Chen, M., Choudhury, R., Cool, J., Creasy, H., D’Orazi, F., Degatano, K., Dichter, B., Ding, S.L., Dolbeare, T., Ecker, J.R., Fang, R., Fillion-Robin, J.C., Fliss, T.P., Gee, J., Gillespie, T., Gouwens, N., Zhang, G.Q., Halchenko, Y.O., Harris, N.L., Herb, B.R., Hintiryan, H., Hood, G., Horvath, S., Huo, B., Jarecka, D., Jiang, S., Khajouei, F., Kiernan, E.A., Kir, H., Kruse, L., Lee, C., Lelieveldt, B., Li, Y., Liu, H., Liu, L., Markuhar, A., Mathews, J., Mathews, K.L., Mezias, C., Miller, M.I., Mollenkopf, T., Mufti, S., Mungall, C.J., Orvis, J., Puchades, M.A., Qu, L., Receveur, J.P., Ren, B., Sjoquist, N., Staats, B., Tward, D., van Velthoven, C.T.J., Wang, Q., Xie, F., Xu, H., Yao, Z., Yun, Z., Zhang, Y.R., Zheng, W.J., Zingg, B. (2023) A guide to the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network data ecosystem. PLoS Biol 21, e3002133.
Gama Sosa, M.A., De Gasperi, R., Pryor, D., Perez Garcia, G.S., Perez, G.M., Abutarboush, R., Kawoos, U., Hogg, S., Ache, B., Sowa, A., Tetreault, T., Varghese, M., Cook, D.G., Zhu, C.W., Tappan, S.J., Janssen, W.G.M., Hof, P.R., Ahlers, S.T., Elder, G.A. (2023) Late chronic local inflammation, synaptic alterations, vascular remodeling and arteriovenous malformations in the brains of male rats exposed to repetitive low-level blast overpressures. Acta Neuropathol Commun 11, 81. doi: 10.1186/s40478-023-01553-6.
Lazarczyk, M.J., Eyford, B.A., Varghese, M., Arora, H., Munro, L., Warda, T., Pfeifer, C.G., Sowa, A., Dickstein, D.R., Rumbell, T., Jefferies, W.A., Dickstein, D.L. (2023) The intracellular domain of major histocompatibility class-I proteins is essential for maintaining excitatory spine density and synaptic ultrastructure in the brain. Sci Rep 13, 6448. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-30054-8.
Sharma, D.R., Cheng, B., Jaiswal, M.K., Zhang, X., Kumar, A., Parikh, N., Singh, D., Sheth, H., Varghese, M., Dobrenis, K., Zhang, X., Hof, P.R., Stanton, P.K., Ballabh, P. (2023) Elevated insulin growth factor-1 in dentate gyrus induces cognitive deficits in pre-term newborns. Cereb Cortex. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhac516.
Freire-Cobo, C., Rothwell, E.S., Varghese, M., Edwards, M., Janssen, W.G.M., Lacreuse, A., Hof, P.R. (2023) Neuronal vulnerability to brain aging and neurodegeneration in cognitively impaired marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus). Neurobiol Aging 123, 49-62. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.12.001.
2022-2020
2022
Ferreira AC, Hemmer BM, Philippi SM, Liu H, Zhu JD, Kareva T, Ahfeldt T, Varghese M, Hof PR, Castellano JM. Neuronal TIMP2 regulates hippocampus-dependent plasticity 1 and extracellular matrix complexity. Preprint on BioRxiv; 2022. doi: 10.1101/2022.12.28.522138.
Ackermans, N.L., Varghese, M., Williams, T.M., Grimaldi, N., Selmanovic, E., Alipour, A., Balchandani, P., Reidenberg, J.S., Hof, P.R. (2022) Evidence of traumatic brain injury in headbutting bovids. Acta Neuropathol 144, 5-26. doi: 10.1007/s00401-022-02427-2.
2021
Rothwell, E.S., Freire-Cobo, C., Varghese, M., Edwards, M., Janssen, W.G.M., Hof, P.R., Lacreuse, A. (2021) The marmoset as an important primate model for longitudinal studies of neurocognitive aging. Am J Primatol 83, e23271. doi: 10.1002/ajp.23271.
Freire-Cobo, C., Edler, M.K., Varghese, M., Munger, E., Laffey, J., Raia, S., In, S.S., Wicinski, B., Medalla, M., Perez, S.E., Mufson, E.J., Erwin, J.M., Guevara, E.E., Sherwood, C.C., Luebke, J.I., Lacreuse, A., Raghanti, M.A., Hof, P.R. (2021) Comparative neuropathology in aging primates: A perspective. Am J Primatol 83, e23299. doi: 10.1002/ajp.23299.
Delpech, J.C., Pathak, D., Varghese, M., Kalavai, S.V., Hays, E.C., Hof, P.R., Johnson, W.E., Ikezu, S., Medalla, M., Luebke, J.I., Ikezu, T. (2021) Wolframin-1-expressing neurons in the entorhinal cortex propagate tau to CA1 neurons and impair hippocampal memory in mice. Sci Transl Med 13, eabe8455. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abe8455.
Ackermans, N.L., Varghese, M., Wicinski, B., Torres, J., De Gasperi, R., Pryor, D., Elder, G.A., Gama Sosa, M.A., Reidenberg, J.S., Williams, T.M., Hof, P.R. (2021) Unconventional animal models for traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. J Neurosci Res 99, 2463-2477. doi: 10.1002/jnr.24920.
2020
Varghese, M., Zhao, W., Trageser, K.J., Pasinetti, G.M. (2020) Peroxisome Proliferator Activator Receptor Gamma Coactivator-1alpha Overexpression in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Tale of Two Transgenics. Biomolecules 10. doi: 10.3390/biom10050760.
Jacot-Descombes, S., Keshav, N.U., Dickstein, D.L., Wicinski, B., Janssen, W.G.M., Hiester, L.L., Sarfo, E.K., Warda, T., Fam, M.M., Harony-Nicolas, H., Buxbaum, J.D., Hof, P.R., Varghese, M. (2020) Altered synaptic ultrastructure in the prefrontal cortex of Shank3-deficient rats. Mol Autism 11, 89. doi: 10.1186/s13229-020-00393-8.
Jacot-Descombes, S., Keshav, N., Brosch, C.M.S., Wicinski, B., Warda, T., Norcliffe-Kaufmann, L., Kaufmann, H., Varghese, M., Hof, P.R. (2020) Von Economo Neuron Pathology in Familial Dysautonomia: Quantitative Assessment and Possible Implications. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 79, 1072-1083. doi: 10.1093/jnen/nlaa095.
Bayne, M., Alvarsson, A., Devarakonda, K., Li, R., Jimenez-Gonzalez, M., Garibay, D., Conner, K., Varghese, M., Serasinghe, M.N., Chipuk, J.E., Hof, P.R., Stanley, S.A. (2020) Repeated hypoglycemia remodels neural inputs and disrupts mitochondrial function to blunt glucose-inhibited GHRH neuron responsiveness. JCI Insight 5. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.133488.
2019-2010
2019
Klebe, D., Tibrewal, M., Sharma, D.R., Vanaparthy, R., Krishna, S., Varghese, M., Cheng, B., Mouton, P.R., Veliskova, J., Dobrenis, K., Hof, P.R., Ballabh, P. (2019) Reduced Hippocampal Dendrite Branching, Spine Density and Neurocognitive Function in Premature Rabbits, and Reversal with Estrogen or TrkB Agonist Treatment. Cereb Cortex 29, 4932-4947. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhz033.
2018
Gandal, M.J., Zhang, P., Hadjimichael, E., Walker, R.L., Chen, C., Liu, S., Won, H., van Bakel, H., Varghese, M., Wang, Y., Shieh, A.W., Haney, J., Parhami, S., Belmont, J., Kim, M., Moran Losada, P., Khan, Z., Mleczko, J., Xia, Y., Dai, R., Wang, D., Yang, Y.T., Xu, M., Fish, K., Hof, P.R., Warrell, J., Fitzgerald, D., White, K., Jaffe, A.E., Psych, E.C., Peters, M.A., Gerstein, M., Liu, C., Iakoucheva, L.M., Pinto, D., Geschwind, D.H. (2018) Transcriptome-wide isoform-level dysregulation in ASD, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Science 362. doi: 10.1126/science.aat8127.
Dickstein, D.L., Talty, R., Bresnahan, E., Varghese, M., Perry, B., Janssen, W.G.M., Sowa, A., Giedzinski, E., Apodaca, L., Baulch, J., Acharya, M., Parihar, V., Limoli, C.L. (2018) Alterations in synaptic density and myelination in response to exposure to high-energy charged particles. J Comp Neurol 526, 2845-2855. doi: 10.1002/cne.24530.
2017
Varghese, M., Keshav, N., Jacot-Descombes, S., Warda, T., Wicinski, B., Dickstein, D.L., Harony-Nicolas, H., De Rubeis, S., Drapeau, E., Buxbaum, J.D., Hof, P.R. (2017) Autism spectrum disorder: neuropathology and animal models. Acta Neuropathol 134, 537-566. doi: 10.1007/s00401-017-1736-4.
2016
Wang, J., Bi, W., Zhao, W., Varghese, M., Koch, R.J., Walker, R.H., Chandraratna, R.A., Sanders, M.E., Janesick, A., Blumberg, B., Ward, L., Ho, L., Pasinetti, G.M. (2016) Selective brain penetrable Nurr1 transactivator for treating Parkinson’s disease. Oncotarget 7, 7469-7479. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.7191.
Varghese, M., Santa-Maria, I., Ho, L., Ward, L., Yemul, S., Dubner, L., Ksiezak-Reding, H., Pasinetti, G.M. (2016) Extracellular Tau Paired Helical Filaments Differentially Affect Tau Pathogenic Mechanisms in Mitotic and Post-Mitotic Cells: Implications for Mechanisms of Tau Propagation in the Brain. J Alzheimers Dis 54, 477-496. doi: 10.3233/JAD-160166.
Lazarczyk, M.J., Kemmler, J.E., Eyford, B.A., Short, J.A., Varghese, M., Sowa, A., Dickstein, D.R., Yuk, F.J., Puri, R., Biron, K.E., Leist, M., Jefferies, W.A., Dickstein, D.L. (2016) Major Histocompatibility Complex class I proteins are critical for maintaining neuronal structural complexity in the aging brain. Sci Rep 6, 26199. doi: 10.1038/srep26199.
2015
Zhao, W., Wang, J., Varghese, M., Ho, L., Mazzola, P., Haroutunian, V., Katsel, P.L., Gibson, G.E., Levine, S., Dubner, L., Pasinetti, G.M. (2015) Impaired mitochondrial energy metabolism as a novel risk factor for selective onset and progression of dementia in oldest-old subjects. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 11, 565-574. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S74898.
Jaiswal, P., Guhathakurta, S., Singh, A.S., Verma, D., Pandey, M., Varghese, M., Sinha, S., Ghosh, S., Mohanakumar, K.P., Rajamma, U. (2015) SLC6A4 markers modulate platelet 5-HT level and specific behaviors of autism: a study from an Indian population. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 56, 196-206. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2014.09.004.
2014
Wang, J., Varghese, M., Ono, K., Yamada, M., Levine, S., Tzavaras, N., Gong, B., Hurst, W.J., Blitzer, R.D., Pasinetti, G.M. (2014) Cocoa extracts reduce oligomerization of amyloid-beta: implications for cognitive improvement in Alzheimer’s disease. J Alzheimers Dis 41, 643-650. doi: 10.3233/JAD-132231.
Wang, J., Gong, B., Zhao, W., Tang, C., Varghese, M., Nguyen, T., Bi, W., Bilski, A., Begum, S., Vempati, P., Knable, L., Ho, L., Pasinetti, G.M. (2014) Epigenetic mechanisms linking diabetes and synaptic impairments. Diabetes 63, 645-654. doi: 10.2337/db13-1063.
Vidaurre, O.G., Haines, J.D., Katz Sand, I., Adula, K.P., Huynh, J.L., McGraw, C.A., Zhang, F., Varghese, M., Sotirchos, E., Bhargava, P., Bandaru, V.V., Pasinetti, G., Zhang, W., Inglese, M., Calabresi, P.A., Wu, G., Miller, A.E., Haughey, N.J., Lublin, F.D., Casaccia, P. (2014) Cerebrospinal fluid ceramides from patients with multiple sclerosis impair neuronal bioenergetics. Brain 137, 2271-2286. doi: 10.1093/brain/awu139.
Varghese, M., Ho, L., Wang, J., Zhao, W., Levine, S., Ono, K., Mannino, S., Pasinetti, G.M. (2014) Green coffee as a novel agent for Alzheimer’s disease prevention by attenuating diabetes. Translational Neuroscience 5, 111-116. doi: 10.2478/s13380-014-0213-y.
Price, K.A., Varghese, M., Sowa, A., Yuk, F., Brautigam, H., Ehrlich, M.E., Dickstein, D.L. (2014) Altered synaptic structure in the hippocampus in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease with soluble amyloid-beta oligomers and no plaque pathology. Mol Neurodegener 9, 41. doi: 10.1186/1750-1326-9-41.
Chakraborty, J., Pandey, M., Navneet, A.K., Appukuttan, T.A., Varghese, M., Sreetama, S.C., Rajamma, U., Mohanakumar, K.P. (2014) Profilin-2 increased expression and its altered interaction with beta-actin in the striatum of 3-nitropropionic acid-induced Huntington’s disease in rats. Neuroscience 281, 216-228. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.09.035.
2013
Zhao, W., Ho, L., Varghese, M., Yemul, S., Dams-O’Connor, K., Gordon, W., Knable, L., Freire, D., Haroutunian, V., Pasinetti, G.M. (2013) Decreased level of olfactory receptors in blood cells following traumatic brain injury and potential association with tauopathy. J Alzheimers Dis 34, 417-429. doi: 10.3233/JAD-121894.
Wang, J., Tang, C., Ferruzzi, M.G., Gong, B., Song, B.J., Janle, E.M., Chen, T.Y., Cooper, B., Varghese, M., Cheng, A., Freire, D., Bilski, A., Roman, J., Nguyen, T., Ho, L., Talcott, S.T., Simon, J.E., Wu, Q., Pasinetti, G.M. (2013) Role of standardized grape polyphenol preparation as a novel treatment to improve synaptic plasticity through attenuation of features of metabolic syndrome in a mouse model. Mol Nutr Food Res 57, 2091-2102. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201300230.
Madathil, K.S., Karuppagounder, S.S., Haobam, R., Varghese, M., Rajamma, U., Mohanakumar, K.P. (2013) Nitric oxide synthase inhibitors protect against rotenone-induced, oxidative stress mediated parkinsonism in rats. Neurochem Int 62, 674-683. doi: 10.1016/j.neuint.2013.01.007.
Appukuttan, T.A., Ali, N., Varghese, M., Singh, A., Tripathy, D., Padmakumar, M., Gangopadhyay, P.K., Mohanakumar, K.P. (2013) Parkinson’s disease cybrids, differentiated or undifferentiated, maintain morphological and biochemical phenotypes different from those of control cybrids. J Neurosci Res 91, 963-970. doi: 10.1002/jnr.23241.
2012
Zhao, W., Varghese, M., Vempati, P., Dzhun, A., Cheng, A., Wang, J., Lange, D., Bilski, A., Faravelli, I., Pasinetti, G.M. (2012) Caprylic triglyceride as a novel therapeutic approach to effectively improve the performance and attenuate the symptoms due to the motor neuron loss in ALS disease. PLoS One 7, e49191. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049191.
Santa-Maria, I., Varghese, M., Ksiezak-Reding, H., Dzhun, A., Wang, J., Pasinetti, G.M. (2012) Paired helical filaments from Alzheimer disease brain induce intracellular accumulation of Tau protein in aggresomes. J Biol Chem 287, 20522-20533. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M111.323279.
Ho, L., Varghese, M., Wang, J., Zhao, W., Chen, F., Knable, L.A., Ferruzzi, M., Pasinetti, G.M. (2012) Dietary supplementation with decaffeinated green coffee improves diet-induced insulin resistance and brain energy metabolism in mice. Nutr Neurosci 15, 37-45. doi: 10.1179/1476830511Y.0000000027.
2011
Zhao, W., Varghese, M., Yemul, S., Pan, Y., Cheng, A., Marano, P., Hassan, S., Vempati, P., Chen, F., Qian, X., Pasinetti, G.M. (2011) Peroxisome proliferator activator receptor gamma coactivator-1alpha (PGC-1alpha) improves motor performance and survival in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Mol Neurodegener 6, 51. doi: 10.1186/1750-1326-6-51.
Wang, J., Ferruzzi, M.G., Varghese, M., Qian, X., Cheng, A., Xie, M., Zhao, W., Ho, L., Pasinetti, G.M. (2011) Preclinical study of dimebon on beta-amyloid-mediated neuropathology in Alzheimer’s disease. Mol Neurodegener 6, 7. doi: 10.1186/1750-1326-6-7.
Varghese, M., Zhao, W., Wang, J., Cheng, A., Qian, X., Chaudhry, A., Ho, L., Pasinetti, G.M. (2011) Mitochondrial bioenergetics is defective in presymptomatic Tg2576 AD mice. Transl Neurosci 2. doi: 10.2478/s13380-011-0011-8.
Appukuttan, T.A., Varghese, M., Gangopadhyay, P.K., Mohanakumar, K.P. (2011) Creation of cybrids for investigating mitochondrial electron transport chain functions in Parkinson’s disease. J Cell Tissue Res 11, 2445-2450.
2009-2005
2009
Varghese, M., Pandey, M., Samanta, A., Gangopadhyay, P.K., Mohanakumar, K.P. (2009) Reduced NADH coenzyme Q dehydrogenase activity in platelets of Parkinson’s disease, but not Parkinson plus patients, from an Indian population. J Neurol Sci 279, 39-42. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2008.12.021.
Pandey, M., Borah, A., Varghese, M., Barman, P.K., Mohanakumar, K.P., Usha, R. (2009) Striatal dopamine level contributes to hydroxyl radical generation and subsequent neurodegeneration in the striatum in 3-nitropropionic acid-induced Huntington’s disease in rats. Neurochem Int 55, 431-437. doi: 10.1016/j.neuint.2009.04.013.
2008
Pandey, M., Varghese, M., Sindhu, K.M., Sreetama, S., Navneet, A.K., Mohanakumar, K.P., Usha, R. (2008) Mitochondrial NAD+-linked State 3 respiration and complex-I activity are compromised in the cerebral cortex of 3-nitropropionic acid-induced rat model of Huntington’s disease. J Neurochem 104, 420-434. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2007.04996.x.
2006
Knaryan, V.H., Samantaray, S., Varghese, M., Srinivasan, A., Galoyan, A.A., Mohanakumar, K.P. (2006) Synthetic bovine proline-rich-polypeptides generate hydroxyl radicals and fail to protect dopaminergic neurons against 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity in mice. Neuropeptides 40, 291-298. doi: 10.1016/j.npep.2006.03.005.
2005
Venkatraman, M., Anto, R.J., Nair, A., Varghese, M., Karunagaran, D. (2005) Biological and chemical inhibitors of NF-kappaB sensitize SiHa cells to cisplatin-induced apoptosis. Mol Carcinog 44, 51-59. doi: 10.1002/mc.20116.
Funding
Team
Bridget A. Wicinski
Laboratory Manager
Carmen Freire-Cobo
Senior Scientist
Alec K. McKendell
PhD Student
Rachel A. Tejiram
Master’s Student
Sofia Magalhaes
Research Volunteer
Alumni
Alumni co-mentored in Hof laboratory (current roles)
Postdoctoral fellows
Nicole Ackermans (Assistant Professor, University of Alabama)
Benjamin Tournier (Biologist, University Hospitals of Geneva)
Sarah Dunand (Pedopsychiatry Expert, University Hospitals and School of Medicine, Geneva)
Master’s students
Selena Seoyeong In (Clinical Research Coordinator, Columbia University)
International students
Maja D. Łazarczyk (Medical Student, University of Geneva, Switzerland)
Roozie JoJo Coenen (Associate Researcher, ISMMS)
Ksenia Orekhova (Ph.D., University of Padova, Italy)
Research volunteers
Ava Pellagrini (B.S. student, Brown University)
Eaindra Naing (High school student, Hunter College High School, New York)
Tannishtha Sethi (Pre-med student, University of Michigan)
Sophia Raia (M.D. candidate, St. George’s University School of Medicine, New York)
Matthew Fam (Robotic Process Automation Developer/ Business Analyst, Merck)
Samantha Kritzer (Pre-med student, Brown University)
Abigail Wade (Undergraduate student, Emory University)
Daniel R. Dickstein (Radiation Oncology resident, ISMMS)
Stephanie Kendler (Business Analyst, Deloitte)
Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) scholars
Jacqueline Slobin (M.D. candidate, ISMMS)
Summer Undergraduate Research Program scholars
Liam Hiester (M.S. Applied Analytics student, Columbia University)
Northeastern Regional Alliance MedPrep scholars
Catherine Marrero (Pharmacy Technician)
Edward Sarfo (M.D. candidate, ISMMS)
Taisa Vasilkova (Direct Support Professional)
Join our Lab
Research Volunteers: We welcome research volunteers who seek mentorship and laboratory experience on their path to graduate or medical school. Please email Dr. Varghese with a description of your research interests and include your CV listing prior research or academic experience and the contact information of mentors from these experiences.
Master’s Students and Doctoral Rotation Students: We are accepting graduate students. Please contact Dr. Varghese to discuss current projects and openings in the lab.
Contact us:
Merina T. Varghese, PhD
Assistant Professor, Neuroscience
Location:
Mount Sinai Center for Discovery and Innovation
787 11th Ave, New York, NY 10019
Lab: W787 Room 800.19-20
Office: W787 Room 845
Phone:
Office: 332-243-0763
Lab: 332-243-0739
Email: merina.varghese@mssm.edu