FAU-Brain Institute
Lab Alumni
Dr. Manish Sharma
Dr. Manish Sharma joined the Subramaniam Lab as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in April 2017. Manish graduated from the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) in Faridabad, India. In the Subramaniam lab, Manish discovered Rhes, a brain-enriched protein, as a novel regulator of the production of tunneling nanotube-like long-distance communication between neurons. He contributed significantly to our understanding of the disruptions in autophagy and inflammatory pathways that occur in striatal neuronal death in Huntington disease. Manish works as a scientist at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research in Frederick, Maryland.
Dr. Uri Nimrod Ramírez Jarquín
Dr. Uri Nimrod Ramírez Jarquín joined the Subramaniam Lab in February 2018 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. He received his PhD in Biomedical Science from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). In the Subramaniam lab, he explored mTOR pathway components in motor abnormalities of the brain's striatum. He also focused on characterizing the striatal mitochondrial changes caused by 3-Nitropropionic acid therapy, protein transfer between neurons in vivo and their relationship to the Rhes proteins. He is currently a faculty member at the Departamento de Farmacología, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez in Mexico City.
Dr. Neelam Shahani
​Neelam graduated from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Science (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India, in 2000 with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. She obtained her postdoc training at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Later, she moved on to Johns Hopkins University as a senior researcher, where she focused on integrative signaling in psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, and continued this focus in the Subramaniam lab at Scripps, Florida. Neelam joined the Davis lab in 2021, promoted to Research Assistant Professor, and is currently working on creating models of ALS symptoms using motor neurons made from patient-specific iPSCs to test treatments for mitochondrial dysfunction.
Dr. William Pryor
Dr. William (Bill) Pryor was a Research Associate in the Subramaniam Lab. Bill graduated from the University of Georgia in 2012 with his PhD in Physiology. He studied the effects of chronic motor activity on immune cell infiltration and molecular pathways that resist cell death in the central nervous system in animal models of multiple sclerosis. Bill worked on unraveling the molecular events involved with Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s disease, and examined regulators of protein synthesis, which have implications in neurodegenerative diseases. He has published several important papers and earned an F1000 recognition. Bill works as Medical Science Liaison at Eisai.
Dr. Supriya Swarnkar
Dr. Supriya Swarnkar was a Research Associate from 2012 to 2015. She received her PhD from CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute in 2012. She was F1000 selected for her research on small GTPase Rhes and striatal susceptibility in mouse models of Huntington disease, which was published in the Journal Neurobiology of disease. Her current job is Program Manager at Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara, California.
Dr. Mehdi Eshraghi
Dr. Mehdi Eshraghi joined the Subramaniam Lab in September 2017 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. He obtained his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Ottawa where he studied Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Mehdi studied how mRNA translation is affected in Huntington’s Disease and how the lack of several striatum specific genes affects L-Dopa Induced Dyskinesia (LID).
Oscar Rivera
Oscar Rivera joined the Subramaniam Lab as an undergraduate research technician. He served as an infantryman for four years as a United States Marine, and he received an honorable discharge. Oscar completed his undergraduate degree in neuroscience at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and received an NIH grant to support his objective of conducting additional research. He is now completing his PhD at FAU.
Dr. Vincenzo Andrew Giovinazzo
Vincenzo Andrew Giovinazzo was an undergraduate student at FAU Honors College with a neuroscience concentration. He completed his thesis research at Scripps under the supervision and leadership of Dr. Srini Subramaniam. His thesis, "Dissecting the Stability of Rhes; a striatal protein involved in Huntington's disease," sought to understand the Rhes protein's degradation of the system. He is pursuing a profession in medicine at FAU and is a resident physician in Delray Beach, Florida.
Sophia Park
Sophia Park joined the Subramaniam Lab as part of the Graduate Program at Scripps in 2015. She worked on elucidating the role of mTOR signaling in both normal brain function as well as in Huntington’s disease. Sophia is from Tucson, Arizona, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Arizona. During her undergraduate research, she developed a passion for cellular signaling. She was awarded an NSF fellowship to work on mechanisms of mTOR regulation while at the Subramaniam Lab.
Dr. Megan Varnum
Dr. Megan Varnum joined the Subramaniam Lab as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in March 2016. She studied the complex roles of Rheb and BACE1 in the development of beta-amyloid in Alzheimer’s disease. Megan graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree from University of Massachusetts Amherst. She obtained her PhD in Pharmacology from Boston University where she studied neurodegenerative diseases. At the Subramaniam Lab, she researched the Rheb pathway in BACE1 regulation and AD-related memory function.
Sofia Karabasevic
Sofia Karabasevic worked as a Summer Trainee in the Subramaniam Lab and was later selected for the competitive Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) Program of the Scripps Kellogg School of Science and Technology. Sofia graduated from Dartmouth College in 2016. Sofia works at Oscar Health, a leading healthcare technology company, in Boston.
Lindsay Gorgen
Lindsay Gorgen was an honors graduate student at FAU, specializing in biology. She completed her undergraduate thesis in the Subramaniam Lab, researching the molecular mechanism and biological importance of Rheb-PERK signaling, for which she co-authored an article. She currently works for the Washington State Department of Health.
Dr. Jennifer Hernandez
Jennifer Hernandez worked as a research intern in the Subramaniam Lab. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience and Behavior in May 2016 at FAU, and she received a medical degree at Temple University in 2021. Currently, Jennifer is a general surgery resident at Memorial Healthcare System, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Dr. Vindhya Nawaratne
Dr. Vindhya Nawaratne was a Research Associate in the Subramaniam Lab. She completed her Bachelor of Biomedical Science and PhD in Pharmacology at Monash University, Australia. She then worked as a Research Officer in the MIPS-Servier Drug Discovery Program at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and as a Visiting Academic at Reproductive Biology Assisted Conception Laboratory, University of Melbourne. Vindhya's research has focused on characterizing ligand-receptor interaction and investigating signal transduction and cell biology for the purpose of improving drug discovery for neurological disorders. She is continuing postdoctoral studies at University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine.
Dr. Chinmayee Mohapatra
Dr. Chinamayee Mohapatra obtained a Ph.D. in Cell & Molecular Biology from Utkal University, India. She worked on binding analysis of protein-protein interactions relevant to neurodegenerative disease. Currently working as a research associate at the Center for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Jupiter campus, FAU Florida.
Alexandra Fernandez
Project Assistant
Alexandra Fernandez is an undergraduate student FAU Honors College majoring in molecular biology. She assists in characterizing Slc4a7-Rhes interactions relevant to Huntington disease. Currently she is preparing for MD program.