Principal Investigator
David Kang, PhD
Howard T. Karsner Professor in Pathology
Professor, Department of Pathology
Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine.
Research Neurobiologist (GS-14), Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.
Dr. David Kang, professor of Dept. of Pathology at Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine. He is also a VA investigator at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. Dr. Kang completed his PhD in Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego. He later went on to serve as assistant/associate professor of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego and Seoul National University. He later moved to University of South Florida, Byrd Alzheimer’s Institue, and served as a Basic Research Director and Fleming Endowed Chair professor. In 2021, he moved to Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine. He has been an active investigator in the field of Alzheimer’s disease in related neurodegenerative disorders for close to three decades. Currently, He serves on multiple NIH study sections, editorial boards, and advisory boards of numerous international journals and scientific institutions.
Faculty and Research Associates
Xinming Wang, PhD
Senior Research Associate
Dr. Wang received his Ph.D. at Shanghai Institute of Physiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2003. His post-doctoral training was completed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. He has been the Director of the Electrophysiology Core in the Byrd Neuroscience Institute at the USF for 9 years. He moved to CWRU in 2021. He runs extracellular electrophysiological experiments in vitro and in vivo and patch clamp for intracellular recording. Currently we have an optical imaging station. We can collect flavoprotein fluorescence and Ca2+ imaging signals in brain slice and whole brain samples.
Xingyu Zhao, PhD
Research Associate
Dr. Xingyu Zhao received his Bachelor of Science (BS) degree from Peking University and his Doctorate (PhD) degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. After completing his PhD, he pursued his post-doctoral research at Washington University in Saint Louis and the University of Michigan. Dr. Xingyu Zhao joined Dr. Kang's lab at the University of South Florida in 2012 and later moved to Case Western Reserve University. He specializes in protein purification, molecular biology, and cloning techniques.
Byeong Tak Jeon, PhD
Research Associate
Dr. Jeon, completed Ph.D degree from Gyeongsang National University, majoring in neuroscience. He completed his postdoctoral training at the Mayo Clinic and Kent State University. In 2025, he joined Case Western Reserve University as a research associate. His research focuses on Alzheimer's disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. And he contributes significantly to the understanding of the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease.
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Pramod G N, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Pramod G N received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Neurobiology at the Department of Molecular Nutrition, CSIR-Central Food Technological Institute, Mysuru, Karnataka, India, in September 2022. Dr. Pramod moved to CWRU as a Post-doctoral fellow. His research focuses on the effects of tau aggregation and toxicity in AD animal models with SSH1 inhibitors and its molecular mechanisms underlying AD and ADRD. His doctoral research focused on the effect of nanoparticles on Tau aggregation and its related cellular markers of AD in in-vitro and in-vivo. Dr. Pramod is well-versed in applying Nanotechnology in neuroscience and other metabolic disorder to understand its potential and site-specific delivery to targeted sites with nano-approach technologies. In addition, Dr. Pramod is also skilled in various areas, including molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology, and animal biology, which help to answer critical questions related to the disease.
Graduate Research Assistants
Hanna Jeon, MS
PhD student
Hanna received her Master’s degree from Yonsei University, College of Pharmacy in 2019. Hanna joined the BSTP PhD program at CWRU in 2021 and started working on protein propagation in AD and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Ma Long
PhD student
Ma received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Irvine in 2020. He then got his Master's degree from Columbia University in 2021 and started his Ph.D. at CWRU the following year. His research interest is in aging and neurodegenerative diseases.
Research Assistants
Hua Tao, MD, MS, MEng
Lab Manager
Hua received his medical degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and completed his Master’s degrees in environmental engineering and science at Tsinghua University, China, and Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. He joined Dr. Kang Lab in 2023.
Jorge Raul Gonzales Virto, BA
Case Western Reserve University
Jorge graduated from the College of Wooster, Ohio in 2024, majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with a minor in anthropology. He joined Dr. Kang Lab in 2024. His research interest is in enzymology and neurodegenerative diseases.
Collaborators
Andrew Pieper, MD/PhD
Professor & Director of Center for Brain Health Medicines, Case Western Reserve University & University Hospitals Harrington Discovery Institute
andrew.pieper@harringtondiscovery.org
Li Gan, PhD
Professor & Director, Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute Weil Cornell Medicine
Volney Sheen, MD/PhD
Associate Professor, BIDMC, Harvard Medical School
Orkide Koskuner, PhD
Associate Professor, Turkish-German University
Vladimir Uversky, PhD, DSc
Professor, University of South Florida, Morsani College of Medicine
Zerui Wang, MD/PhD
Instructor, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Xiongwei Zhu, PhD
Professor & Director, Pathology Graduate Program, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Allison Kraus, PhD
Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University
James Bamburg, PhD
Professor, Colorado State University
James Leahy, PhD
Professor, University of South Florida
Stanley Stevens, PhD
Associate Professor, University of South Florida
Yu Chen, PhD
Associate Professor, University of South Florida
Stephen Liggett, MD
Vice Dean of Research, Professor, University of South Florida
Sigrid Veasey, MD
Professor, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Martin Muschol, PhD
Associate Professor & Graduate Director, University of South Florida
Dale Chaput, PhD
Director of Proteomics & Mass Spec Core, University of South Florida
Wen-Quan Zou, MD/PhD
Professor, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Neena Singh, MD/PhD
Professor, Case Western Reserve University
Xianlin Han, PhD
Professor, University of Texas, San Antonio