West Lab Alumni Spotlight

Past West lab members have gone on to prestigous positions, working on neurodegenerative diseases, in both academia and industry. This page spotlights a few of these amazing researchers.

Zhiyong Liu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Cell Biology

Univ. of Al. Birmingham

West Lab Postdoctoral Fellow, 2018-2023

Zhiyong earned a K99/R00 fellowship in the West laboratory for his work on vesicle traffic and LRRK2 function, and now runs an NIH-funded laboratory focused on Alzheimer's disease research at UAB.

Mark Moehle, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology

University of Florida

West Lab Graduate Student, 2011-2015

Mark earned a K99/R00 fellowship and runs a laboratory focused on circuit changes that unerlie dystonia, Parkinson's disease, and different dementias.

Kaela Kelly, Ph.D., Principal Scientist

Bexorg, Inc.

West Lab Graduate Student, 2015-2020

Kaela specializes in translational biomarker research for neurodegenerative disease drug discovery by applying advanced biomarker platforms and pharmacological modeling to help identify and validate new therapeutic targets using Bexorg's whole-brain perfusion technology.

Nicole Bryant, Ph.D., Principal Scientist

Vividion Therapeutics

West Lab Graduate Student, 2018-2022

Nicole runs a research team in the Early Discovery Group, using novel chemoproteomic platforms to inform new drug targets for therapeutic interventions.

Kyle Fraser, Ph.D., Translational Sciences Director

Arvinas Therapeutics

West Lab Graduate Student, 2011-2016

Kyle bridges preclinical and clinical research, overseeing the biomarker and translational science strategies that support ARV-102's clinical development, a novel oral PROTAC designed to cross the blood-brain barrier and degrade LRRK2.

Hisham Abdelmotilib, MD/PhD, Neurohospitalist

Houston Methodist West Hospital

West Lab, 2013-2018

Hisham is a practicing neurologist at one of the most prestigous neurology departments in the country and specializes in neurodegenerative disorders.

Sidhanth Chandra, MD/Ph.D.

Mass General Brigham, Harvard Medical School

West Lab, 2015-2019

Sid studied the impact of LRRK2 and 14-3-3 modulation on neuropathology in rodent models of Parkinson's disease in the West Lab. He subsequently attended the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and completed his MD-PhD. Sid will complete his residency in neurology at Mass General Brigham in Boston.

Ravindra Boddu, BDS, Ph.D.

West Lab, 2019-2024

Ravi is a research scientist with expertise in Cellular & Molecular Biology, Genetics, in vivo procedures, multi-color flow cytometry (including acoustic focusing cytometry-Attune Nxt). He completed his studies and training from: UAB School of Dentistry, UAB Graduate School, and UAB School of Medicine. His research efforts are focused on understanding the role of LRRK2 in inflammation, immunity and Parkinson's disease.

Samuel Strader, Ph.D.

West Lab Graduate Student, 2021-2026

Samuel joined the West Lab in 2021 and is studying neurotoxicity of Tau protein fibrillization and the role of peripheral macrophages in neurodegenerative diseases. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he worked as a Research Technician at Duke University in the Eroglu Lab.

Arpine Sokratian, Ph.D., Senior Expert

Mercor AI Intelligence

West Lab, 2018-2024

Arpine started her journey at the West lab in 2018 as a research technician at UAB. She joined the graduate program at Duke in Pharmacology in 2020. Arpine's research interests are centered around the biology of key proteins implicated in Parkinson's disease and Dementia with Lewy bodies.

Lauren Shiell

Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences

West Lab, 2022-2026

Lauren studied biomedical engineering student with a minor in neuroscience, and continues to pursue work in the lab related to pathohistological analysis, nanoparticle detection and distribution in tissues. Lauren will be pursuing her PhD in Neuroscience at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in New York City.

Nirali Patel

Brown University

West Lab, 2022-2025

Nirali earned her undergraduate in Biology with a concentration in Pharmacology. She joined the West Lab interested in key proteins regarding Parkinson’s disease and neuropharmacology. Nirali is currently earning her Master's degree in Biotechnology at Brown University.

Eunjae (Annie) Lee, MEng, Senior Research Associate

ODDITY LABS

West Lab Graduate Student, 2023-2024

Annie studied biotechnology in the West Lab with expertise in Crspr/CAS9, genome editing, and cell biology approaches. She is currently a Sr. Research Associate at ODDITY LABS.

Deney Li

Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences

West Lab, 2021-2024

Deney is interested in biomarkers and diagnoses of neurogenerative disease, and how these identifiers can aid in treatments. She is currently a Pharmacology PhD student at Weill Cornell Medicine & Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Kashyap Sreeram

University of Pennsylvania

Perelman School of Medicine

West Lab, 2020-2025

Kashyap Sreeram is interested in studying biomarkers in biofluids for neurodegenerative disease and analyzing the effects of LRRK2 variants on Parkinson's Disease pathology. Kash is currently an MD-PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

Anjali Bandi

Drexel University College of Medicine

West Lab, 2023-2026

Anjali earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology, with minors in Global Health and Chemistry, during her time at Duke. She studied the gut-brain connection in the West Lab and remains involved with clinical neurology research. Anjali is currently earning her MD at Drexel University.

Rebecca Arian

The New York Stem Cell Foundation

West Lab, 2024-2026

Rebecca focused on researching Parkinson's Disease-Associated neurotoxicity of nanoplastics in rapidly induced human glutamatergic neurons. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Bachelor of Arts in English, while completing departmental honors theses in both majors. Rebecca is currently working at the New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute.

Abigail Zaroff

West Lab, 2023-2026

In the West Lab, Abby worked to characterize microglia during neuroinflammation and determine the role of LRRK2 in a murine model of Parkinson’s disease. Since graduating, Abby has continued research on health equity, pathological mechanisms, and patient care, as she prepares for medical school.

Julia Ziaee, Senior Software Engineer

Salesforce, Inc.

West Lab, 2019-2022

Julia was an undergraduate researcher in the West Laboratory, where she developed models on AlphaFold DB ML to model & compare structural implications of novel pathogenic LRRK2 variants. She is currently is a software engineer at Salesforce in San Francisco.

Shijie Wang, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher

Gladstone Institutes

West Lab, 2018-2021

Shijie graduated with a PhD in the West Lab and led research initiatives to discover and validate biomarkers for Parkinson’s Disease (PD) risk and progression, focusing on LRRK2 kinase activity. Her current research focus is on leveraging automated robotic microscopy and deep learning to model cell fate under pathological stress in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.

Joshua Li

Emory University School of Medicine

West Lab, 2018-2022

Josh was a post-bac researcher in the West Lab and is currently an MD candidate at the Emory University School of Medicine.

Valentina Krendelshchikova

Astra Zeneca

West Lab, 2017-2021

Valentina was a West lab manager and now works in Industry for protocol optimization and laboratory operations.

Nicole Malpeli, Software Engineer

Mercury Technologies

West Lab, 2018-2022

Nicole was an undergraduate computer science researcher in the West laboratory and specialized in developing data visualizations to analyze the effectiveness of DNA transformations and transfections.

Lyndsay Hastings

University of Pennsylvania

Perelman School of Medicine

West Lab, 2020-2021

Lyndsay was an undergraduate researcher in the West Lab and is a recipient of the National Institutes of Health's Post-Baccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award, where she studied opioid use disorders. She is currently a neuroscience graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania and is interested in how the brain generates behavior and in how to use imaging and computational methods to understand brainstem motor circuitry..

Allison Chang

University of Minnesota Graduate School

West Lab, 2018-2020

Allison was a Post-Bac researcher in the West lab and studied the ability of LRRK2 kinase inhibitors to rescue the loss of dopaminergic neurons in a rodent pre-clinical model of AAV-mediated α-syn overexpression. She is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Minnesota, exploring the role of mitochondria and lipids in Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies.

Ketty Bai, MD

Stanford University School of Medicine

West Lab, 2019-2021

Ketty was an undergraduate researcher in the West Lab and earned her MD at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is currently a Urology Resident at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

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