Principal Investigator
JungA Alexa Woo, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology
Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine.
Dr. Alexa Woo, Associate Professor of the Department of Pathology at Case Western Reserve University, completed her Master’s degree at Seoul National University and her Ph.D. at Byrd Alzheimer's Institute, University of South Florida. She became an assistant professor at USF in 2017, moved to CWRU in 2021, and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2024. Her research focuses on GPCR-beta arrestin signaling in multiple neurodegenerative diseases, including AD, FTD, PD, and ALS. Dr. Woo’s lab also works on the mitochondrial protein CHCHD2 in neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Woo serves on NIH study sections and extramural grant review panels.
Research Associate
Hyunkyoung Lee, PhD
Research Associate
I received my B.S. degree in genetic engineering at Cheongju University,South Korea. And I have completed my Ph.D. degree from Seoul National University, majoring in Neuroscience. During my post-doctoral studies, I have conducted research in various areas of neuroscience, including neuroinflammation, itch, pain, and animal behavior. In 2024, I moved to CWRU as a Research Associate. My research focuses on mitochondrial protein CHCHD2 and CHCHD10 in neurodegenerative diseases.
Graduate Research Assistants
Teresa Kee
PhD candidate
Teresa is currently a PhD Candidate in Dr. Woo’s lab. Her work focuses on how mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to Parkinson’s disease pathology. Teresa received her B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from USF in 2018. She previously volunteered as an undergraduate under Dr. David Kang and Dr. Stephen Liggett. Teresa also completed a molecular biology research internship in Würzburg, Germany in the summer of 2017 as a DAAD RISE research fellow.
Ashwini Shivalinga
Collaborative Ph.D. student
Ashwini received her Master’s degree in Biological Sciences from Bangalore University in 2015. She joined the lab as a collaborative student from CSIR-Central Food Technological Institute, Mysuru, Karnataka, India. Her research focuses on understanding the effect of alkaloids on Tau aggregation inhibition and its related cellular markers of Alzheimer's disease in in-vitro and in-vivo models.
Undergraduates
Khoi Tran
Sophia Kim
Nandita Patil
Alumni
Pamela Espinoza Gonzalez (2019-2021)