Zachary Uttke, MD/PhD Student, completes MSTAR internship at Harvard Medical School

The Greater Boston Medical Student Training in Aging Research (GBMSTAR) Program at Harvard Medical School hosted Zach for their 2024 summer internship while our lab was in transit from UTHSA to Brown. This highly competitive program is dedicated to helping medical students conduct clinically-oriented aging research and teaches foundational concepts in geriatric medicine.

During his time in Boston, Zach worked in the lab of Dr. George Church at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, where he was involved two tissue culture projects. Under the mentorship of Dr. Katharina Meyer, Zach investigated pathology of neurons derived from iPSCs with carrying familial Alzheimer's disease associated mutations in PSEN1 or APP. He was also mentored by Dr. Patrick Han on a project focused on transcription factors necessary for transdifferentiation of fibroblasts directly into microglia. Thank you to the Church lab for your support!

health biomarkers and cognitive function in older adults. More information on this clinical trial

can be found at: Long-term Effects of Blueberry Supplementation on Brain Health in Older

Adults.

Separate from Zach’s work through the MSTAR internship, he is also working in the lab of Dr.

George Church at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Here, Zach has been

introduced to two tissue culture projects. Under the mentorship of Dr. Katharina Meyer, Zach

will be studying the pathology of neurons derived from iPSCs with Familial Alzheimer’s Disease

mutations in PSEN1 or APP. Additionally, he is being mentored by Dr. Patrick Han to

investigate the transcription factors necessary for transdifferentiation of fibroblasts directly into

microglia.