Kang Lab: Lab Members

Principal Investigator

David Kang, PhD

Howard T. Karsner Professor in 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

Tian Liu, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology

txl757@case.edu

Dr. Liu successfully completed his PhD studies in September 2014 at Seoul National University. His research mainly focuses on the mitochondria-related mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. He served as a microscope core director at USF/Byrd Alzheimer’s Institue until 2021. In 2021, he moved to CWRU as an assistant professor. Dr. Liu is well versed in recombinant DNA construction, AAV production/purification, stereotaxic injections, as well as various biochemical, cell biological, molecule biological and animal modeling tools to answer critical questions related to healthy and pathological neuronal function.

Xinming Wang, PhD

Senior Research Associate

xxw806@case.edu

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

xxz1226@case.edu

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.

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

hxj360@case.edu

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

mxl1162@case.edu

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

Case Western Reserve University

hua.tao@case.edu

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.

Liam Wetzel, MS

Case Western Reserve University

lsw59@case.edu

Liam graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2019, double majoring in Biology and Psychology with minors in neuroscience and chemistry. He is currently pursuing his M.S. in Pathology (Cellular and Molecular Basis of Disease) at CWRU, School of Medicine. In Dr. Kang's Lab, Liam assists Dr. Tian Liu with research related to mitochondria-related mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease.