Barbara Bendlin, PhD
Dr. Bendlin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics. She received her PhD at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin. She subsequently joined the faculty at UW-Madison in 2010. Dr. Bendlin's research is focused on understanding brain and cognitive changes in normal and pathologic aging. Her federally funded studies use novel brain imaging techniques combined with fluid biomarkers to detect early brain changes in Alzheimer's disease, and to understand mechanisms of disease related neural injury, as well as determine the effect of factors that may increase or decrease risk of dementia. Email: bbb@medicine.wisc.edu
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS
YUETIVA ROBLES, PhD
Dr. Robles is a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology and is interested in analyzing quantitative traits to help further understanding of complex disease. Currently her research integrates genomics, metabolomics, and bioinformatics methods to help determine the underlying biology impacting Alzheimer disease (AD). Dr. Robles (Deming) received her Bachelor’s degrees in Neuroscience and Molecular Biology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, and earned her PhD from Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine where she focused on genetic associations with AD biomarkers such as CSF amyloid and tau to help uncover biological pathways associated with AD pathology. Google Scholar Profile. Email: yrobles@wisc.edu
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Nick Vogt
Nick Vogt is an MD/PhD student in the UW Medical Scientist Training Program. As a future physician-scientist and geriatrician, he is interested in providing clinical care to individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, while also investigating the factors that contribute to healthy or pathological brain aging. His current work focuses on the role of human gut bacteria (or the "gut microbiome") in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. He hopes that gaining a better understanding of the complex relationship between gut microbiota and Alzheimer’s disease will lead to novel interventions aimed at augmenting or restoring gut bacterial composition. Google Scholar Profile. Email: nvogt@wisc.edu
Margo Heston
Margo is a PhD student in the Cellular and Molecular Pathology program at UW.
Jack Hunt
Jack is an MD/PhD student in the UW Medical Scientist Training Program and the Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology. He has clinical interest in the care of patients with neuropsychiatric disorders and a passion for research in the neurobiology underlying these conditions. His research in Dr. Bendlin's Lab uses state of the art PET and MRI imaging techniques to identify how early Alzheimer's disease pathology spreads throughout the human brain. His work seeks to uncover how the accumulation of the toxic Alzheimer's disease protein, tau, relates to white matter pathology in the brain. The goal of this work is to provide new insights into early brain changes in Alzheimer's disease and to uncover biomarkers to track the efficacy of new treatments and interventions. Google Scholar Profile. Email: jfhunt2@wisc.edu
Rigina Gallagher
Rigina is a MD/PhD student in the UW Medical Scientist Training Program and the Neuroscience Training Program.
Akshay Kohli
Akshay is a PhD student in the Neuroscience Training Program at UW. His current research utilizes high-contrast MRI scans in combination with biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease to investigate changes in structural integrity of brain tissue throughout the progression of the disease. By employing these new scan techniques, he hopes to provide a robust method of detecting AD-related neurobiological changes, leading to earlier and more reliable diagnosis and treatment. Google Scholar Profile. Email: akohli2@wisc.edu
Research Staff
Nancy Davenport-Sis - Program Manager
Nancy Davenport-Sis is the Program Manager for the Bendlin Lab in the Wisconsin ADRC. She oversees all the research studies conducted in Dr. Bendlin’s Lab, including recruitment, retention, and day to day operations. She is also responsible for supervising the undergraduate research assistants and contributing to the WADRC as a whole. Email: njdavenp@wisc.edu
Kao Lee Yang - Assistant Researcher
Kao Lee is an Assistant Researcher in the Bendlin Lab. Her primary duties include 1) examining associations between myelin degeneration and Alzheimer’s disease pathology and 2) assisting with cognitive testing in the Alzheimer’s Disease Connectome Project (ADCP). She can be reached at klyang3@wisc.edu
Mary-Elizabeth Pasquesi - Study Coordinator
Mary-Elizabeth is the study coordinator for the ADCP. In this role, she recruits participants as well as schedules and carries out participant visits (coordinating lab tests, brain imaging appointments, and neuropsychological exams). In addition, she manages the ADCP team of staff, graduate, and undergraduate students. Email: mpasquesi@wisc.edu
Lily Allison - Research Intern
Lily is a research intern in the Bendlin lab. Her responsibilities include assisting with data entry and quality checks for ADCP. Lily also helps with participant recruitment and other various tasks needed for this study. Email: lallison2@wisc.edu
Ingrid Taylor - Research Assistant
Ingrid is a student researcher working on the AMBITION study while pursuing her Doctorate of Physical Therapy. Previously Ingrid was study staff and worked on ADCP screening participants, scheduling and running study visits. Now she works behind the scenes on AMBITION study procedures and administration. Email: itaylor3@wisc.eduEmail: itaylor3@wisc.edu
Theresa Kang - Senior Research Specialist
Theresa is the study coordinator for Dr. Bendlin's LEAD study, the goal of which is to understand the longitudinal trajectories of white matter degeneration in Alzheimer's disease. She also provide assistance to other ADRC projects as needed. Email: tjkang@medicine.wisc.edu
Rachel Aune - Research Specialist
Rachel is the study coordinator for Dr. Bendlin's microbiota studies, which analyze the relationship between GI bacteria and risk for dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. Rachel is currently coordinating the Ambition study, which aims to demonstrate the effects of fecal microbiota transplant intervention on the composition and function of the gut microbiota in humans with or at risk for dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. She also provide assistance to other ADRC projects as needed. Email: rkaune@medicine.wisc.edu
Grace Mckinney - Associate Research Specialist
Grace is the study coordinator for the Synapse Project. In this role, she recruits participants as well as schedules and carries out participant visits (coordinating lab tests and brain imaging appointments). Email: gmckinney@medicine.wisc.edu
Gilda Ennis, PhD - Assistant Scientist
Dr. Ennis is an assistant scientist within the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology. She received her PhD in Psychology at North Carolina State University and completed postdoctoral training in cognitive aging at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is interested in the association of cortisol regulation and glucose metabolism to cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Ennis is currently utilizing data from the Predicting Alzheimer’s from Metabolic Markers and Sleep (PAMMS) study to investigate the relationship of insulin sensitivity and pancreatic beta cell function to cognition and cerebral glucose metabolism in non-diabetic middle-aged and older adults. Email: geennis@medicine.wisc.edu
Undergraduate Students
Sarah Brooks
Sarah is an undergraduate research assistant in the Bendlin Lab, and her responsibilities include data entry and conducting MRI quality checks for the ADCP study. She is currently studying the effects of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease on episodic memory in older adults with the ADCP study. Email: sebrooks@wisc.edu
John Thorstenson
John is an undergraduate research assistant in the Bendlin Lab, and his responsibilities include data entry for multiple studies, such as PREDICT, LEAD, PAMMS, ADCP, and MARS, and doing image quality checks and AC/PC corrections on MRI scans. He is starting to get closely involved with MARS, the gut microbiome study, and will be doing phone screenings and sample kit preparations. Email: jthorstenson@wisc.edu
Allison Randall
Allie is a new student in the Bendlin Lab, working on reviewing MRI scans to check their image quality, and entering data for LEAD and PREDICT studies. She is currently learning more about insulin resistance and its impact on the brain as well as tracking biomarker changes in the CSF. Email: amrandall2@wisc.edu
Emily Merkel
Emily is an undergraduate research assistant at the Bendlin Lab. She assists in coordinating study visits and reviews MRI scans for image quality. Email: emerkel@wisc.edu
Ana Hoeft
Ana is an undergraduate research assistant in the Bendlin Lab. Her responsibilities include data entry and assistance on multiple studies such as BFIT and PAMMS, as well as image quality checks and ACPC correction on MRI’s. She also is involved in many administrative duties. Email: ahoeft2@wisc.edu
Maiya Macalpine
Maiya's responsibilities as a student researcher include conducting quality checks on MRI scans and entering data for LEAD and ADCP. She works closely with the ADCP study coordinators to schedule participant visits, prepare lab kits, and carry out various administrative duties. Maiya is currently investigating the relationship between metabolic factors and hippocampal volume with the BFIT study. Email: macalpine@wisc.edu
Nick VanDerwerker
Nick is an undergraduate research assistant at the ADRC. Currently, he reviews and processes MRI scans to ensure that they are usable for research, and creates post-visit results letters for research participants, Nick is planning to conduct an individual research project soon. Email: vanderwerker@wisc.edu
Leah Mushall
Leah is an undergraduate student researcher in the Bendlin lab. Her responsibilities include assisting with data entry and other tasks for LEAD, PAMMS and BFIT. Leah also works on sending reminder and results letters for a few different studies. Email: mushall@wisc.edu Email: mushall@wisc.edu
Deepali Bhalla
Deepali is an undergraduate research assistant at the ADRC. Currently, she reviews and processes MRI scans to ensure that they are usable for research. Deepali is currently conducting a research project looking at quantitative T1 in the Alzheimer's brain. Email: dmbhalla@wisc.edu
Jordan Doucette
Jordan is an undergraduate research assistant at the Bendlin Lab. He assists in coordinating study visits and reviews MRI scans for image quality. Email: jjdoucette@wisc.edu
Kelly Hartnett
Kelly is an undergraduate research assistant at the Bendlin Lab. She assists in coordinating study visits and reviews MRI scans for image quality. Email: kmhartnett@wisc.edu
Lab Alumni
Morgen Spees
Morgen worked as a study assistant for the Alzheimer's Disease Connectome Project (ADCP). Her responsibilities included recruitment of participants as well as data entry, scheduling, and coordination of participant visits.
Michael Kozuch
Michael coordinated the activities of two studies: (1) a new, intervention-based study (BFIT) examining changes in brain blood flow, cognition, and other health metrics as they relate to a combined diet and exercise program, and (2) a longitudinal study (LEAD) of brain changes that might be related to developing Alzheimer’s Disease. Michael is now pursuing his masters in public health at Emory University.
Brittany Moreno
Brittany was a study coordinator for the Alzheimer Disease Connectome Project. She led research visits: cognitive and psychological assessments, MRI and PET imaging, and coordinated lab tests. Additional duties included subject recruitment, quality assessment, and scheduling. Brittany is now pursuing her doctorate in physical therapy at UW-La Crosse
Andrew Merluzzi, PhD
Andrew was a PhD/MPA Candidate in the Neuroscience and Public Policy (NPP) Program. He was seeking to chart cognitive decline in individuals at risk for Alzheimer’s disease and investigating biomarkers for resilience to dementia. His most recent findings showed that some middle-aged individuals have brains that look as if they should have dementia, but show no signs of cognitive impairment. That is, they have the characteristic misfolded proteins of Alzheimer’s (amyloid and tau) and yet were diagnosed as clinically unimpaired. His work has shown that these “resilient” individuals seem to have more stable connectivity between brain regions, stronger neuronal synapses, and reduced gliosis, perhaps allowing them to cope with increasing levels of amyloid and tau. Ultimately, this may suggest that additional biological processes will be useful predictors of who will go on to develop dementia or how we might prevent it. In addition to this project, Andrew also used novel diffusion-weighted and myelin imaging to detect brain changes early on in the Alzheimer's disease progression.
After graduating from the Neuroscience and Public Policy program, Andrew accepted a science and technology policy position at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. Google Scholar Profile. Email: andrewmerluzzi@gmail.com.
Chase Taylor
Chase coordinated our studies on insulin resistance, sleep apnea, and risk for Alzheimer's disease. In addition, he also provided assistance on other ADRC projects as needed, including on the LEAD project (otherwise known as: "White matter degeneration: biomarkers in preclinical Alzheimer's disease"). Chase is now pursuing his doctorate in Neuroscience at the University of Kentucky. Email: ctaylor23@uky.edu
Alex Jankovich
Alex was an undergraduate student researcher in Dr. Bendlin’s lab. His responsibilities included assisting with data entry and other tasks for LEAD, PAMMS, and BFIT. Alex also worked closely with MARS study coordinators to schedule participant visits, prepare lab kits, and carry out various administrative duties. He has previously studied the relationship between central obesity and beta-amyloid accumulation with PAMMS.
Matthew Beilfuss
Matt was an undergraduate student researcher in Dr. Bendlin's lab. His responsibilities included assisting with data entry and other tasks for the LEAD, PAMMS, PREDICT, and ADNI studies. Matt also trained new undergraduate students and had previously coordinated the LEAD study. He investigated the relationship between the human gut microbiome and Alzheimer's disease as an undergraduate research assistant for the MARS study. He is currently in medical school at UW-Madison. Email: mabeilfuss@wisc.edu
Bobbi Audrey
Bobbi was an undergraduate student researcher in the Bendlin lab. Her primary responsibilities were quality checking MRI's (e.g. checking for motion artifacts and signal dropout) as well as orientating them for analysis (ACPC correction). Bobbi also performed data entry following participant visits for many studies in the lab, including cognitive data and health history data. Email: baubrey@wisc.edu
Erika Starks, MD, PhD
Erika was a student within the Medical Scientist Training Program and Neuroscience Training Program at UW. She is now a radiology resident at the University of New Mexico.
Siobhan Hoscheidt, PhD
Siobhan was a postdoctoral researcher in the Bendlin Lab. She is now an assistant professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest University.
Jessi Kelley
Jessi was an undergraduate student researcher involved with several studies, including PAMMS, LEAD, BFIT, ADNI, and PREDICT. She conducted image quality checks and data entry, and also assisted with the training of new students. With respect to research, Jessi investigated the relationship between myelin and Alzheimer’s biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid.
Jonilda Mecollari
Jona was an undergraduate student researcher in the Bendlin lab, and focused on data entry, scheduling, and recruiting for ADCP. Her other duties included image quality checks, ACPC corrections, and other tasks for additional studies such as LEAD and PAMMS. She loved training new students, assisting with technical designs in projects, and interacting with research participants.
Kevin Jones
Kevin enjoyed working as an undergraduate student researcher in the Bendlin Lab. His primary responsibilities were quality checking MRI scans and entering data from LEAD and PREDICT research visits. Additionally, Kevin has worked with study coordinators on sending recruitment letters for new research studies.
Martina Ly, PhD
Martina was a student within the Neuroscience Training Program at UW. She is now a Technology and Business Development Consultant for ANT Neuro.
Auriel Willette, PhD
Auriel was a postdoctoral researcher in the Bendlin Lab. He is now an assistant professor within the departments of Food Science and Human Nutrition and Psychology at Iowa State University.
Kate Sprecher, PhD
Kate graduated with her PhD through the Neuroscience Training Program at UW. She is now a postdoctoral researcher in the Sleep and Chronobiology Lab at University of Colorado Boulder.
Brittany Derynda
Brittany was an undergraduate student researcher in the Bendlin Lab, and her responsibilities included assisting with data entry, preparing for research visits, and training new undergraduate students. Brittany also provided assistance on the BFIT study, which she previously coordinated, and the PAMMS study. Additionally, she investigated the relationship between sleep-disordered breathing and brain white matter health.