Lefler Fellows

The Lefler Center’s commitment to progress in neurodegenerative disease therapy motivates our funding of the next generation of trainees. The Lefler Fellowship provides research grants to pre- and post-doctoral investigators performing fundamental research with a disease focus. Lefler Fellows have gone on to start their own laboratories, building on their fellowship research and advancing the field.

2025 Fellows

Garam Kim
Macosko Lab, Massachusetts General Hospital
Investigating role of adaptive immune response in neurodegeneration via simultaneous acquisition of protein pathologies and single cell transcriptomes from fixed tissues

Dilansu Guneykaya Cinar
Datta Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
The Alzheimer’s disease risk gene Ms4a6d promotes neurodegeneration by coordinating antigen presentation in microglia

Xintong Cai
Andermann Lab, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Metabolic drivers of neuronal hyperexcitability

Banyuhay Serrano
Weitz Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
BMAL1 complexes, novel therapeutic targets for neuroprotection in Alzheimer’s Disease

Gizem Terzioglu
Young-Pearse Lab, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Investigating the role of microglial INPP5D/SHIP1 in Alzheimer's disease

2024 Fellows

Ellen Goodall
Harper Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Cellular Biology
Quantitative analysis of Parkinson's disease gene FBXO7 in proteasome regulation

Shuting Wu
Regehr Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Characterizing the circuits and behavior contributions of different Purkinje Cell subtypes

Ozen Baytas
Yellen Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Metabolic changes in Alzheimer's disease mouse models

Akshay Jagadeesh
Livingstone Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Neuroplasticity and neural dynamics of visual object perception

Sindhuja Gowrisankaran
Schwarz Lab, Boston Children's Hospital
Role of Synaptojanin-1 RNA-binding in neuronal functioning and health

2023 Fellows

Shuhan Huang
Fishell Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Examining the role of neurogliaform cells in the cortex, as a possible cause of early Alzheimers’s disease dysfunction

Lujing Chen
Gu Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
An in situ preparation to study comprehensive mechanisms underlying neurovascular coupling

Sivan Gelb
Lehtinen Lab, Boston Children's Hospital
Role of the choroid plexus brain barrier in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

Philippe Morquette
Do lab, Boston Children’s Hospital
Using new knowledge of retina-brain signaling to rationally design light therapy for neurodegenerative diseases

2022 Fellows

Sivapratha Nagappan Chettiar
Umemori lab, Boston Children’s Hospital
Activity-dependent mechanisms of neuron-microglia signaling in synapse elimination

Zinan Zhou
Walsh lab, Boston Children’s Hospital
Analysis of somatic mutations in ALS/FTD brains

2021 Fellows

Yihang Li
Segal lab, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Cyclic-ADP-ribose regulates axonal Ca++ flux in paclitaxel induced axonal degeneration

Tri Nguyen
Lee lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Studying the cerebellum as a distributed memory circuit using largescale electron microscopy and automated reconstruction

Saloni Sharma
Livingstone lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Impact of the alterations in early visual experience on the behavior and selectivity of inferotemporal cortex in non-human primates

Xingjie Zhang
Andermann lab, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Mechanisms underlying persistent dopamine signaling in a motivational circuit

2020 Fellows

Jonathan Green
Harvey Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Scalable methods for studying the roles of neuronal types in spatial navigation

Xiaomeng Han
Lichtman Lab, Harvard University
Development of a novel approach to localize neurodegeneration-related molecules in high-resolution electron microscopy volumes

Hankum Park
Harper Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Cell Biology
Quantitative Analysis of Amyloid Processing and Trafficking in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alexandra Vacarro (read profile)
Rogulja Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Understanding mechanisms of sleep deprivation-induced morbidity and mortality

Allison Hamilos
Assad Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Determining the role of nigrostriatal interactions on movement initiation

Brikha Shrestha
Goodrich Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Activity-dependent diversification of neurons in the cochlea

Chundi Xu
Pecot Lab, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Control of synaptic specificity through differential expression of homologous cell surface proteins

Lefler Small Faculty Grants

The Lefler Small Grants program promotes creativity and innovation by providing resources that allow investigators to test new concepts without delay, avoiding the cumbersome process of attaining traditional government support in the initial stages of a new project. Lefler funds offer a streamlined way to get started. Such funds can allow researchers to test a new gene delivery method to see if it holds promise for that lab’s work, or to experiment with a brand new imaging platform for an alternative way to visualize the brain activity in a disease state they are studying.

2025 Awardees

John Assad
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Dopamine and the control of movement vigor

Kanaka Rajan
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Neuro-Foundation Models for Discovering Mechanisms of Maladaptive Generalization and Neurodegeneration in the Brain

Christopher Harvey
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
The properties of grid cells during navigation

Chuck Weitz
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Structure of the PER complex, a novel therapeutic target for neuroprotection in Alzheimer’s Disease

2024 Awardees

David Corey
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Gene editing to treat degenerative hereditary deafness

Michael Greenberg
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Midnolin-regulated protein degradation in neuronal development and function 

Aleena Garner
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Plasticity mechanisms by which patterned sensory input can drive coordinated motor behavior 

2023 Awardees

Charles Weitz
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Cryo-EM analysis of a mammalian cytoplasmic circadian clock complex 

2022 Awardees

Lisa Goodrich
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Neuron-glia interactions in the developing cochlea

Gary Yellen
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Aging-related changes of cellular brain metabolism 

2021 Awardees

Richard Born
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
X-ray holographic nano-tomography (XNH) in the nonhuman primate 

Pascal Kaeser
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Architecture of striatal dopamine receptor domains

2020 Awardees

S. Robert Datta
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Mechanistic experiments to reveal how the basal ganglia enables effective action selection and support the generation of adaptive behaviors

Michael Greenberg
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Neuronal activity-dependent DNA repair in healthy aging

Wade Regehr
Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology
Direct Purkinje cell inhibition of the parabrachial nucleus regulates non-motor behavior

Clifford J. Woolf
Boston Children’s Hospital, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center
Developing a Human Motor Neuron Model of TDP-43 Related ALS for Genome-wide CRISPR screens.