100 College Street
New Haven, CT 06510

Email: dayana.perezacuna@yale.edu
Connect: LinkedIn / ResearchGate / PubMed

2024.02 Ph.D. Medical Sciences Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
2016.05 BS Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universidad Austral de Chile, Chile

I completed my PhD in Biomedical Sciences at Seoul National University in Professor Seung-Jae Lee laboratory where I studied the mechanisms of α-synuclein spreading and synaptic dysfunction. My work focused on the propagation of α-synuclein aggregates from the retina to the brain and the effects of α- synuclein spreading on cortex neuronal circuit dysfunction.
I am interested in understanding the molecular changes in neurodegenerative diseases and the search for therapeutic targets. During my research I was intrigued by how the processes of protein aggregation affects neuronal networks before neuronal death. There have been several reports involving mechanisms in synapse remodeling and formation in neurodegenerative diseases, but there is still a lot more to comprehend about the molecular basis of how these occur or how for example these aggregates species and subsequent changes in the microenvironment affect synapse dynamics. I joined the Biederer Lab to further explore synaptic vulnerability and changes in the function and structure of cortical synapses in Parkinson’s Disease.