Sarah Hopp Email & Phone Number

San Antonio, Tx, Us

San Antonio, Texas

Charlestown Navy Yard

The goal of my research in Dr. Bradley Hyman's lab is to characterize molecular pathways involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. One of my research interests is the transcriptional pathway triggered by overactivation of the phosphatase calcineurin and its role in Alzheimer's disease. My other main research interest is the role of microglia in tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies.

The goal of my research in Professor Gary Wenk's lab is to understand the relationship between aging, neuroinflammation, and neurodegeneration. Specifically, I am examining the role of calcium dysregulation in neuroinflammation-induced and age-associated memory deficits. Many neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinsons diseases, are associated with both increasing age and neuroinflammation. The lab uses molecular, histological, and behavioral techniques to examine neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration.

I worked as an Academic Advisor for undergraduate students in the newly formed Neuroscience Undergraduate Major including scheduling, course planning, and career preparation. The major expanded from a starting point of zero to 170 major students in one year. I developed programming for the major including information sessions, graduate and medical school preparation sessions, recruitment for freshmen, and other programming.

I ran rodent behavioral assays independently or as a team for ongoing preclinical screening of compounds for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. Assays included Morris water maze, novel object recognition, Y-maze, open field, conditioned avoidance, contextual fear conditioning, and prepulse inhibition. I was first author for two posters on data from our schizophrenia PDE10 program were presented at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in 2009 and 2010 and contributed to numerous other posters for those meetings as well as the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease.

I examined signaling proteins in tumor sections using immunofluorescent multispectral imaging. The identity of signaling proteins in tumors is relevant for appropriate diagnostics, treatments, and understanding of cancerous tumors.

I analyzed cell motility using live cell time lapse fluorescent imaging during several undergraduate semesters part-time and full-time for two summers. I worked on developing a protocol for long-term (8+ hr) imaging of live cells that used antioxidants and other free-radical capture chemicals to prevent cell damage in order to observe the cells in a healthy state to better understand their behavior.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Neuroscience

Activities and Societies: Council of Graduate Students, Neuroscience Graduate Studies Committee

Sb, Brain And Cognitive Sciences

Activities and Societies: Alpha Phi Omega, Student Government, Lecture Series Committee, WMBR student radio