Vanesa R. Hyde , B.A

Motivated by the devastating progression of Alzheimer’s Disease and its lack of viable treatment options, Vanesa began her educational journey in neuroscience. Her published undergraduate research explored the gut-brain axis model noting both an altered gut microbiome composition and immune activation in a Drosophila model of human tauopathy (Rydbom et al, 2021). Realizing that neuroscience and psychology are integral components of understanding the human experience, Vanesa shifted her focus to a [neuro]psychology-geared trajectory. She graduated in 2021 from Washington & Jefferson College with a B.A. in psychology and English. 

Vanesa currently leads projects focused on understanding neurodegenerative disease causality and mechanism:

(1) the pathogen and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) project aims to explore the role of pathogenic infection in disease progression and understand the role of pathological hyperphosphorylated tau.

(2) the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) project focuses on understanding the factors contributing to disease development while coinciding with concussion events. Both projects utilize expansion microscopy (ExM) for high resolution imaging of brain samples.

Vanesa intends to pursue a neuroscience PhD with a particular interest in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric conditions. In the future, Vanesa hopes that her research will be able to aid translational medicine advancements.