Sarah Cohen, PI
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Sarah Cohen is the Principal Investigator of the Cohen Lab. Her work centers on studying organelle dynamics, focusing on the role of organelle membrane contact sites in development and neurodegenerative disease. Sarah earned her PhD from the University of British Columbia in 2011, where she studied how viruses get into the nucleus of their host cells. She then performed her postdoctoral work on lipid droplet dynamics with Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz at the National Institutes of Health before joining UNC as faculty in 2017. Sarah is a 2024 Paul Allen Distinguished Investigator. Contact: sarahcoh[at]med.unc.edu |
Greg Miner, Research Associate
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Greg is a Research Associate in the Cohen Lab. His PhD research focused on protein-lipid interactions and how these interactions are regulated, specifically in the context of vacuolar membrane fusion. He is continuing this line of research by examining the role of lipid binding proteins in mediating organelle contacts and lipid transfer. Greg received degrees in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Washington at Seattle in 2012 and his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2018.
Contact: gminer2[at]med.unc.edu |
Maria Clara Zanellati, Post-Doc
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Maria Clara is a Postdoctoral Research Associate working with co-mentorship between Sarah Cohen and Mohanish Deshmukh. Her PhD research focused on investigating age-related genes conserved between C. elegans and mammals, focused on peroxisomal ROS and lipid metabolism. She is continuing her research on aging with particular attention of the neurodegenerative effect of APOE variants through the study of organelle morphodynamics, during hiPSc differentiation into neurons and astrocytes. She got her degree in Biology from the University of Milano-Bicocca in 2014 and her PhD degree in Molecular Life Science at ETH Zurich in 2021.
Contact: maria_zanellati[at]med.unc.edu |
Kajal Gangaragm Kamble, Post-Doc
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Kajal is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Cohen Lab. She holds a Master’s degree in Marine Biotechnology from Goa University, India and a Ph.D. in Life Sciences from National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, India (2023). Her doctoral work focused on delineating the role of ER stress and autophagy in neurodegenerative disorders. In the Cohen lab, her research continues with the focus on endolysosomal system and its role in neurodegenerative diseases, alongside investigating the role of APOE in lipid droplet metabolism and function. Contact: Kajal_Kamble[at]med.unc.edu |
Yehonathan Malis, Post-Doc
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Yehonathan is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Cohen Lab. He received his BSc in the Combined Program in Medical and Life Sciences from Tel Aviv University, and proceeded to the direct PhD route program, graduating in 2025. His PhD research focused on characterizing intracellular pathways using Rab1b, and he worked on developing new FRET methods. In the Cohen lab, he will study the trafficking machinery that drives secreted proteins such as Apolipoprotein E (APOE) to lipid droplets. Yehonathan also studied drawing and painting in art school, and he engages in scientific illustration for journals.
Contact: ymalis[at]email.unc.edu |
Shannon Rhoads, Post-Doc
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Shannon is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Cohen Lab. She graduated from the University of Maryland in 2016 then worked as a Lab Manager at Uniformed Services University where she examined the biophysical characteristics of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)-associated proteins. She then continued her research on ALS through a co-mentorship with Sarah Cohen and Todd Cohen studying the impact of ALS pathology on organelle contacts and dynamics for her PhD work in the UNC Neuroscience curriculum, graduating in 2025. As a post-doc, she is continuing to develop novel organelle imaging and analysis tools. Contact: srhoads[at]live.unc.edu |
Sherry Hsu, PhD Student
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Sherry is a PhD student in the Cell Biology and Physiology curriculum. She graduated from National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan with an M.S. in Molecular Medicine and Bioengineering where she studied non-centrosomal microtubule nucleation in primary neurons using an optogenetic tool. In the Cohen Lab, she is currently investigating the impact of microtubule post-translational modifications in organelle contacts and dynamics during hiPSC differentiation into neurons to model Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) pathology. Sherry loves animals.
Contact: chhsu[at]email.unc.edu
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Alex Powers, PhD Student
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Alex is a PhD student in the Cell Biology and Physiology curriculum. He graduated from Emmanuel College in 2018, where he studied prenatal fluoxetine exposure on rodent behavior. While in school, he studied biochemical and biophysical properties of Parkinson’s Disease associated alpha-synulcein mutants at Brigham and Women’s University. After graduation, Alex worked at Biogen and Voyager Therapeutics, where he studied novel therapeutic development for neurodegenerative diseases. He is currently studying the role of Apolipoprotein E in lipid droplet regulation.
Contact: apowers[at]unc.edu |
Vickie Williams, PhD Student
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Vickie is a PhD student in the Cell Biology and Physiology curriculum. She graduated from Davidson College in 2019. After graduation, she pursued a post-baccalaureate at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences where she studied Drosophila models of Parkinson’s disease. She is currently studying the role of organelle morphodynamics in the context of Parkinson’s disease.
Contact: vwilliams1[at]unc.edu |
Courtney Prim, PhD Student
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Courtney is a PhD student in the Neuroscience curriculum. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 2017 with her B.S. in Experimental Neuroscience. After graduation, she worked as a laboratory technician at the University of Virginia, where she studied the interaction between astrocytes and the extracellular matrix in development and Alzheimer’s Disease. In the Cohen Lab, Courtney is studying how the different APOE genotypes modulate lipid droplet peroxidation in astrocytes.
Contact: cprim[at]unc.edu |
Meredith Gillis, PhD Student
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Meredith is a PhD student in the Cell Biology and Physiology curriculum. She graduated from St. Olaf College in 2022, where she studied enzyme kinetics of bacterial PETase and lipid droplet-associated proteins in Tetrahymena thermophila. After graduation, Meredith was a post-baccalaureate fellow at the National Human Genome Research Institute. There, she investigated the etiology of a rare genetic disorder, oculocutaneous albinism, focusing on the functional assessment of mutations found in patient populations. In the Cohen Lab, she is currently studying organelle contacts and dynamics in iPSCs with neurodegenerative disease-associated mutations.
Contact: mfgillis[at]email.unc.edu |
Zach Coman, Technician
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Zach is a lab technician in the Cohen Lab. He earned his undergraduate degree in Neuroscience from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to working in the Cohen Lab, he worked at Science37 on data management of clinical trials such as Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. In the Cohen Lab, Zach is examining organelle morphodynamics in iPSCs with mutations associated with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and ALS. Additionally, he is using his knowledge of numerous programming languages to assist with development of the infer-subc organelle analysis workflow. In his free time, Zach enjoys cooking, spending time with animals, and developing/playing videogames.
Zachary_Coman[at]med.unc.edu |
Ngudiankama Rene Mfulama, Undergraduate Research Assistant
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Ngudiankama is an Undergraduate Research Assistant at the Cohen Lab. He works with the infer-subc workflow focusing on the segmentation and quantification of subcellular components. His work consists of learning the ins and outs of the code and acquiring new knowledge in neuroscience from those in the lab. He has experience with multiple languages that aid with data science such as Python and R. Ngudiankama is a Statistics and Analytics Major planning to graduate in 2025. He loves coding and learning new things.
Contact: nmfulama[at]unc.edu |
Ridhi Yarlagadda, Undergraduate Research Assistant
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Ridhi is an undergraduate senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill majoring in Biology (B.S) along with a minor in Studio Art. In the Cohen Lab, her work involves using split-TurboID to test for biotinylation in order to identify the proteins at specific organelle contact sites. She loves cooking and creating art in her free time.
Contact: ryarlagadda[at]unc.edu |
Disha Bhowmik, Undergraduate Research Assistant
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Disha is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Chemistry. During her time at the Cohen Lab, she will be researching organelle morphodynamics, specifically during iPSC differentiation into neurons and astrocytes, in order to develop models of neurodegenerative diseases. In her spare time, she loves trying new cuisines, going on adventures, and is currently trying to learn how to crochet!
Contact: dbhowmik[at]email.unc.edu |
Malvika Nair, Undergraduate Research Assistant |
Malvika is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Spanish and Chemistry. In the Cohen Lab, she studies the role of lipid-droplet localized APOE in regulating inflammatory lipid signaling in genotypes prone to neurodegenerative diseases. In her free time, she loves playing tennis, martial arts, and cooking foods of various cuisines.
Contact: malvikan[at]ad.unc.edu |
AJ Kinrade, Undergraduate Research Assistant |
AJ is an undergraduate senior at UNC Chapel Hill pursuing a B.S. in Biology and a Minor in Chemistry. In the Cohen Lab, he is investigating the role of post-translationally modified tubulin in mediating organelle contacts throughout neuronal differentiation. In his free time, AJ enjoys reading, crocheting and knitting.
Contact: alejki[at]email.unc.edu |
AlumniPostdoctoral: Gregory Miner (2018-2023). Current: Research Associate, UNC (S. Cohen and W. Edwards Labs) Amit Joshi (2018-2020). Current: Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Doctoral: Shannon Rhoads (2019-2025). Current: Postdoctoral Fellow at UNC (S. Cohen Lab) Ian Windham (2017-2023). Current: Postdoctoral Fellow at Rockefeller University (G. Alushin Lab) Predoctoral: Joey Ragusa, Technician (2019-2023). Current: PhD Student at Duke (Pathology) Sidney Smith, PREP Scholar (2021-2022). Current: PhD Student at Penn (Cell and Molecular Biology) Valerie Dong, Technician (2021-2022). Current: PhD Student at UC Davis (Animal Science) Christina So, Technician (2019-2021). Current: PhD Student at UNC (Cell Biology and Physiology) Tim Qi, Technician (2018-2019). Current: PhD student at UNC (Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics) |
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