Aidan McDonald
Entered: Neuroscience Graduate Program NGP 2024
Mentor: Gregg Fields, Ph.D.
Thesis Topic: TBD
B.S. Cell Biology, University of California Davis
"In the lab of Dr. Gregg Fields, I will be investigating the function of protease MT5-MMP and its products in Alzheimer's disease. We are also interested in using our cellular and mouse models to explore the role of MT5-MMP's binding partner HTRA1 in neurodegenerative disease.
Before I started in FAU's NGP, I studied as an undergraduate at UC Davis. I majored in cell biology and volunteered in Dr. Neil Hunter's lab to help study how homologous recombination is modulated during meiosis. After graduation, I worked as a research assistant in the lab of Dr. Fred Gage at the Salk Institute to support research characterizing the molecular signature of memory in the dentate gyrus. I wanted to continue investigating memory as well as its dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease in a PhD program.
I was attracted to the NGP program because of the fascinating research conducted by faculty in the program, the emphasis on mentoring, and the collaborative campus environment. In my first year, my rotations in the labs of Dr. Henriette van Praag, Dr. Vidhya Rangaraju, and Dr. Gregg Fields were all valuable and positive experiences."