Nzinga Elizabeth Hendricks

• My overall research goal is to study neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). My focus is on translational research, with two key areas of interest: 1. Uncovering the mechanisms of disease pathology as they relate to global neuronal and synaptic function; 2. Identifying pathogenic variants that cause or modify human disease, and determining the mechanisms of action of these genetic variants in disease pathogenesis.
• My long-term career goal is to become an academic principal investigator with the responsibilities of running my own research lab and teaching graduate-level courses, in addition to becoming a neuroscience research consultant, developing effective and diverse pedagogies for scientific outreach and science communication.

Honors:

Mountaintop Fellowship/Summer Experience 2019

 Eckardt College Scholar August 2016 – May 2020

Grant Awards:

Eckardt Scholar Senior Thesis Fund ($3,000) - 2019

Department of Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Fund ($1,500) - 2019

College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Fund ($1,500) - 2019

Publications:

• Aric F. Logsdon, Brian Foresi, Shannon Hu, Aarun Hendrickson, Ingrid Redford, Asmit Kumar, Emily Quah, Bao Anh Phan, Tammy Doan, Cassidy Noonan, Nzinga E. Hendricks, Jeanna M. Wheeler, Brain C. Kraemer, Kimberly M. Alonge. “Perineuronal net deglycosylation associates with tauopathy-induced gliosis and neurodegeneration”. Journal for Neurochemistry (2024). PMID: 38317026
• Pamela J. McMillan, Timothy J. Strovas, Misa Baum, Brooke K. Mitchell, Randall J. Eck, Nzinga E. Hendricks, Jeanna M. Wheeler, Caitlin S. Latimer, C. Dirk Keene, Brian C. Kraemer. “Pathological tau drives ectopic nuclear speckle scaffold protein SRRM2 accumulation in neuron cytoplasm in Alzheimer's disease”. Acta Neuropathologica Communications 9, 117 (2021). PMID: 34187600

Abstracts & Poster Presentations:

• Nzinga E. Hendricks and Brian C. Kraemer, 2023. Evaluating MSUT2 inhibition by repurposed drugs in PS19 tauopathy mice. Society for Neuroscience – November 11-15th 2023, Washington D.C.
• Brian Foresi, Shannon Hu, Bao Anh Phan, Tammy Dohan, Cassidy Noonan, Nzinga E. Hendricks, Jeanna M. Wheeler, Michael W. Schwartz, Aric F. Logsdon, Brain Kraemer, Kimberly M. Alonge, 2022. Modeling Alzheimer’s disease-associated perineuronal net loss in mouse models of tauopathy. Poster Presentation