Kara Vogel

I am a molecular and cellular biologist, and I have a passion for developing therapeutics to cure challenging diseases in need of intervention. I have worked on metabolic and neurological disorders, advancing mechanistic understanding and targeted therapeutics to treat Alzheimer's Disease, glaucoma, metabolic, and inherited disease. I began my Ph.D. studying rare neurological disorders in an effort to treat defects in GABA (an inhibitory neurotransmitter) metabolism. I tested enzyme replacement and small molecular interventions in rodent models. I performed EEG, longevity studies, and behavioral testing to correlate with experimental treatment paradigms.

In recent years I have cultured inducible pluripotent stem cells derived from sporatic and familial Alzheimer's and ALS patient fibroblasts. I studied neurons differentiated from these cell lines to discover molecular pathways involved in disease pathology and progression. In my current research, we are developing and characterizing specialized iPSC lines for therapeutic purposes for a number of applications to remedy disease.

In my research, I apply a spectrum of different molecular, genetic, analytical, physiological, and cellular techniques to investigate my research questions.

August 2019