Andreasson Lab Team

Katrin Andreasson, MD

Professor of Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Andreasson is Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, and is a neurologist who treats patients with dementia and is also engaged in basic research in neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Andreasson received her M.D. degree at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, and completed her residency in Neurology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

She carried out her postdoctoral training in the Johns Hopkins Department of Neuroscience, where she began her research studies on the function of brain inflammation in development of neurodegenerative disease.   The objectives of her laboratory research are to identify specific inflammatory pathways that may be targeted to prevent and treat neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. 

Edward (Ted) Wilson, PhD

Education and Training:
Ph.D., Neuroscience (2016), McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Master of Science, Psychology, McGill University (2011), and Bachelor of Science (2009), Biology and Neuroscience (Honours), Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Chinyere Iweka, PhD

Chinyere obtained her PhD in Neuroscience from Georgetown University where in collaboration with the Geller lab at NHLBI, she studied protein responses to chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans that are upregulated after spinal cord injury. She joined the Andreasson lab in 2020, where she is studying immunometabolism in the context of stroke and aging.

Jessy Tan, PhD

Dr. Tan studied cancer and stem cell biology as a PhD student at UCSF. She then moved to Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School to study senescence and aging biology as a postdoc, where she developed strong interests in unravelling the mystery of aging brain. After joining Andreasson Lab, Dr. Tan has been diving into immuno-metabolomics and epigenetics to explore the biology of aging brain.

Congcong Wang, PhD

Congcong received her PhD from Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2011-2017), where she studied functional protein complex and the regulatory mechanism in metabolic disorder and Alzheimer’s disease. Following a post-doc training in neuroscience in Fudan University, China (2017-2019), she joined Andreasson lab in 2020, where she spearheads to study the metabolic and inflammatory pathways in neurodegenerative diseases and aging.

Melek Firat Altay, PhD

Firat earned her PhD in Neuroscience from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she investigated alpha-synuclein heterogeneity in the context of Parkinson’s disease and other synucleinopathies. In 2024, she joined the Andreasson Lab as an MSCA fellow to study how immune responses influence Alzheimer's disease pathology and progression.

Travis Conley, PhD

Dr. Conley received his Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from the University of California, Santa Cruz (2021), where he studied developmental neurotoxicology in the lab of Prof. Donald Smith. His doctoral research focused on the altered neurotransmitter systems, inflammation, and biomarkers underlying the executive function-related impairments caused by elevated early life manganese exposure. He joined the Andreasson Lab in 2021, where he studies the role of immunometabolism and neuroinflammatory pathways involved in aging and neurodegenerative diseases.

Joshua Crapser, PhD

Joshua completed his BSc in Biological Sciences at the University of Connecticut (2009-2013) while working as a technician researching the neuroimmunology of ischemic stroke in Dr. Louise McCullough’s lab at the UConn Health Center. Following this, he carried out his PhD studies in the lab of Dr. Kim Green at the University of California, Irvine (2015-2021), where he studied the role of microglia in neurodegenerative models of Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. He joined the Andreasson lab in 2021, where he is investigating myeloid metabolism and inflammation in aging and neurodegeneration.

Hannah Ennerfelt, PhD

Hannah received her Ph.D. in Neuroimmunology at the University of Virginia (2022), where she investigated microglial responses in Alzheimer's disease in John Lukens' lab. She joined the Andreasson lab in 2022, where she studies the role of peripheral immune responses in modulating cognitive aging and Alzheimer's disease.

Manling Xie, PhD

Manling completed her M.B. at Tongji Medical College, Wuhan (2009–2014), and earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Mayo Clinic Graduate School, Rochester (2016–2022). Her doctoral research focused on microglia in TDP-43-related neurodegenerative diseases under the mentorship of Dr. Long-Jun Wu. She joined the Andreasson lab in 2024, where she investigates the role of peripheral immune responses in aging and TDP-43-related neurodegenerative diseases.

Fuwen Yao, PhD

Fuwen Yao majored in bioinformatics and completed his PhD degree in Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.  He then finished his postdoc research in Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Currently, he serves as a postdoctoral scholar in neurology and neurological sciences. His research involves bioinformatics analyses of immune metabolism and function in models of aging and neurodegeneration.

Paras Minhas, PhD

MSTP Student, Stanford School of Medicine

Javier A Ramos Benitez

Life Science Research Professional

Mica Cabrera

Life Science Research Professional

Mica completed her B.S. in Biochemistry with a minor in Philosophy at CSU East Bay, while studying phenolic compounds and salinity stress tolerance of pistachio plants in collaboration with the USDA, UC Davis and CSU Fresno in the lab of Dr. Monika Sommerhalter. She also has spent 2 years studying the optimization of enzymatic enhanced pretreatment for biofuel production at Joint BioEnergy Institute under Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. She hopes to learn more about chronic inflammation and neurological diseases.

Jacob Umans

Life Science Research Professional

Jacob Umans is a current Life Sciences Research Professional in the lab. He is particularly interested in understanding how inflammation within and outside of the brain contributes to aging and neurodegeneration. He graduated from Stanford University in 2020 with a B.S. in Biology, and hopes to pursue a career as a physician-scientist. Outside of the lab, Jacob enjoys science outreach, reading, and finding new shows to watch.

Qian Wang

Life Science Research Professional

Jolie Huang

Yoo Jin Jung