Who We Are

Natasha Snider is a tenured Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She serves as co-Director of Graduate Studies for the Cell Biology and Physiology (CBP) Curriculum at UNC and co-Principal Investigator for the Cellular Systems and Integrative Physiology (CSIP) T32 graduate training program. Dr. Snider completed graduate training in Pharmacology (2004-2009) and postdoctoral training in Molecular & Integrative Physiology (2009-2014) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She joined UNC-CBP in 2015.

Audrey is a PhD student in the Neuroscience Curriculum. Her thesis project seeks to uncover early effects of gigaxonin loss that impact neurodevelopment and behavior.  Her specific research goal is to assess the impact of gigaxonin mutations on the formation and maintenance of the neuromuscular junction, where mechanical and molecular signals converge. She is also studying how pharmacologic modulation of retinoic acid signaling impacts GAN disease development and progression. Audrey completed her undergraduate studies in Neuroscience at Indiana University. 

Maddie is a PhD student in the Cell Biology and Physiology Curriculum. Her thesis project  is focused on characterizing the expression, assembly states, and morphology of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in AxD patient astrocytes. Maddie is specifically focused on understanding how post-translational regulation of GFAP modulates its function at the cytoplasm-nucleus interface. She completed her undergraduate studies in Neuroscience at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. 

Dhruv is a senior majoring in Biostatistics in the Gillings School of Public Health, with a minor in Chemistry, and will continue to medical school in the future. Dhruv is fascinated by everything about neurodegenerative diseases and is using AI-based tools to predict the effects of PTMs and disease-causing point mutations on GFAP structure and folding. He is also developing GFAP Atlas, a web-based resource integrating various datasets into GFAP biology and disease involvement. 

 Zoie is a UNC sophomore planning on majoring in Biostatistics at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, with a minor in Computer Science. She is excited to contribute to the lab's research on AxD, particularly through computational data analysis related to GFAP aggregation and the self-reinforcing toxic cycle it drives in astrocytes. She is currently developing a strong foundation in the lab's protocols and procedures. 

 Ben is a UNC sophomore in the Lampe Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering. He is interested in the development and application of medical microdevices. Ben is learning new biochemical techniques to analyze protein-level changes in human and humanized models of GAN with the goal of incorporating mechanical stretch paradigms to study axonal degeneration of neurons in his future research work.