Thomas M. Harten

Second-year master's student in the Department of Neurobiology & Behavior at Stony Brook University pursuing an MS in Neuroscience with goals of pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Currently conducting research into the role of retrotransposition events in the progression of neurodegenerative disorders (including ALS and frontotemporal dementia).

Graduate Student Researcher, 08/2023 - Current

Stony Brook University – Stony Brook, NY 11733

• Currently developing a master's thesis on the relationship between TDP-43 proteinopathy and retrotransposition in mouse primary cortical neurons cells as part of a larger effort by the lab of Dr. Roger Sher to understand the role of each in neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontal temporal dementia (FTD).
• Skilled in maintaining cell cultures, plasmid cloning, gene transfection, viral infection, confocal microscopy, gel elctrophoresis, genotyping, RNA extraction, quantative PCR, and data analysis.
• Successfully demonstrated the derpression of LINE-1 retrotransposons in cells neighboring neurons expressing the TDP-43 Q331K mutant in vitro.

Undergraduate Student Researcher, 09/2022 - 05/2023

Georgetown University Human Science Department – Georgetown, Washington D.C. 20057

• Aided in maintaining, imprinting, and collecting data on C. elegans in Dr. Ted Nelson's lab whose goal is to better understand the mechanisms that regulate aversion and attraction to taste stimuli in this species.
• Gained experience maintaining cell cultures, chunking, bleaching, and analyzing behavior of C. elegans, and gene transfection.
• Presented data on the relationship between taste perception, learning, and behavior.