Indu Navar (PhD Candidate) Indu, a seasoned entrepreneur, CEO, and investor, founded the Peter Cohen Foundation, operating as EverythingALS.org, a nonprofit fostering collaboration among ALS patients, researchers, and providers. With 20 years of experience in software companies, she led successful exits and M&A activities. As a former Managing Director at Woodside Capital Partners, Indu advised…
Ed Rapp (BSBA) Ed Rapp retired from Caterpillar Inc. in July 2016. Prior to his retirement, Ed was a Caterpillar Inc. Group President. During his time in the Caterpillar Executive Office he led Resource Industries, Construction Industries and was the company’s CFO. Rapp has more than 37 years of global experience and has lived and…
Daniel Mordes (MD, PhD) Dr. Mordes is an Assistant Professor and board-certified neuropathologist at UCSF. His work connects C9 dipeptide repeat toxicity to changes in gene expression through SRSF7 and links TBK1 (another ALS-associated protein) to the C9ORF72 protein complex. His lab is building a “wiring diagram” of C9 disease, mapping the molecular nodes that…
Zachary McEachin (PhD) Dr. McEachin is an assistant professor in Human Genetics and Cell Biology at Emory University. His laboratory is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disease, particularly repeat expansion disorders such as C9orf72-ALS/FTD. His research integrates multiomic analyses with diverse experimental models to uncover how genetic and molecular alterations contribute to…
Renzo Mancuso (PhD) Dr. Mancuso is a group leader and Deputy Director at the VIB–Center for Molecular Neurology, Belgium. He obtained his PhD in Barcelona in 2014 and since then his primary focus has been to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms that drive Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), with special focus on inflammatory…
Paymaan Jafar-Nejad (MD) Dr. Jafar-Nejad, MD, is a scientific leader in RNA therapeutics and currently serves as Executive Director at Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pioneering biotechnology company in RNA-targeted drug discovery and development. He brings more than two decades of experience in neuroscience and RNA biology, including over a decade focused on oligonucleotide therapeutics, and…
Christopher Donnelly (PhD) Dr. Donnelly, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute at UT Southwestern and Neuromuscular Section Chief. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware, where he studied axonal RNA transport and local translation in nerve regeneration with Dr. Jeff Twiss, and completed postdoctoral training…
Claire Clelland (MD, PhD) Dr. Clelland is building what every C9 carrier hopes for: a one-time fix at the genomic level. Her CRISPR work has shown the most complete reversal of C9 pathology demonstrated to date in patient-derived neurons. She is now partnering with Denali Therapeutics to solve the hardest remaining problem: getting that edit…
Steven Boeynaems (PhD) Dr. Boeynaems is an Assistant Professor in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, an Investigator at the Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, and a Faculty Member of the Therapeutic Innovation Center, the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases….
Jenna Gregory (MD, PhD) Dr. Gregory is developing an early warning system for neurodegenerative disease, focused on detecting pathology long before clinical symptoms appear. Her work with RNA aptamers identifies TDP-43 pathology with unprecedented sensitivity, and her skin biopsy research has demonstrated detectable pathology up to 26.5 years before diagnosis, opening the possibility of transforming…
Yentli Soto Albrecht (PhD) Yentli is an MD-PhD student and C9orf72 expansion carrier that pivoted to neurodegeneration research after her father’s death from rapidly progressive familial ALS in 2024. Her previous doctoral training in viral pathogenesis and mitochondrial biology, covering topics like: protein aggregation, cellular dysfunction, metabolic dysregulation, translates directly to the mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration….