Research Team

Brendan graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Lindenwood University in the spring of 2020, and joined the Bateman lab as a full time research tech in late 2021. He has since been primarily working with the team studying the Tau profile in Alzheimer’s disease.

Nicolas Barthélemy obtained his PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Strasbourg. He specializes in protein characterization and quantitation by mass spectrometry. He joined the Bateman laboratory as postdoctoral associate in 2015. As research instructor, Barthélemy focuses his research on tau protein phosphorylation in Alzheimer's disease and tau modifications in other tauopathies. His research led to the discovery of new tau biomarkers for AD, including ptau217 in plasma/spinal fluid, and has provided new understanding on molecular mechanisms involved in tauopathies.

James Bollinger’s studies have focused on the development and application of novel analytical techniques for the profiling of enzymes of clinical relevance. Specifically, he has utilized the LC-ESI-MS/MS analytical platform to design reagents and assays that enable the sensitive and specific analysis of individual proteins as well as metabolite profiles derived from their enzymatic activity. In collaboration with multiple other labs, he has applied these assays to characterize relative abundance and kinetic profiles of several proteins with the greater intent of investigating in vivo roles in cellular homeostasis and disease progression. Current efforts in the Bateman lab are focused on LC/MS method development for; 1) the assessment of alpha synuclein protein turnover kinetics in human CSF 2) the assessment of Superoxide Dismutase 1 protein turnover kinetics in human CSF 3) the assessment of CNS amyloidosis through blood-based biomarkers 4) the assessment of Apolipoprotein E's role in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disease.

John earned his PhD in analytical chemistry from Saint Louis University, where he developed novel sample preparation platforms for LC-MS based metabolomics. He joined the Bateman lab in the fall of 2021, and is working on IP-MS method development toward the characterization of neurofilament light in various biofluids.

Reid Coyle graduated from Maryville University in spring 2022 with his bachelor's degree in chemistry along with two minors in math and physics. He joined the Bateman lab in summer of 2022 as a full-time research tech and currently works with the Tau team.

Yingxin (Chloe) He joined the Bateman laboratory in June 2019. She obtained her PhD in chemical engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology. She focuses her research on tau and amyloid-beta measurement in human CSF, plasma and brain. Her current work also includes the development of the IP-MS methods for measurement of NfL in human CSF, plasma and brain to enable SILK.

Cynthia (Cindy) Hodge joined the Bateman Lab in December 2020 as the lab manager. She provides general management, organization and administration assistance to the lab.  Her background is in neuroimaging, development & aging research, from coordination and management, at WUSTL and vocational rehabilitation and career development prior to her research career.

Kanta Horie is an Eisai-sponsored visiting researcher in Department of Neurology at Washington University.  He obtained his PhD in pharmacy from Kyoto University and specializes in proteomics and metabolomics research.  He joined Bateman’s laboratory in 2019.  His current interests center around translational research in neurodegenerative diseases using various analytical techniques e.g., mass spectrometry and the use for biomarker-driven medicine creation.

Rama K. Koppisetti joined the Bateman and Karch lab as a staff scientist in 2021. He has a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, mathematics and a Master’s degree in analytical chemistry (specialization) from India (Andhra University). He has seven-plus years of working experience in drug discovery and structural & molecular biology projects. His primary focus is to accelerate ongoing collaborations between Celeste Karch, PhD, and Chihiro Sato, PhD, to understand Tau kinetics in cell models.

Melody Li joined the Bateman lab in October 2016 and is a project manager for Bateman’s lab grants. She works on grants management and administration, scientific writing and editing for grants and publications, and study design for clinical studies. Her background is in occupational therapy working with older adults to support successful aging in their homes.

Yan Li is an instructor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine. She graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a PhD in biostatistics in 2017. Li’s research interest focuses on the design, analysis and interpretation of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) related research studies and clinical trials. She is currently working for the DIAN Biostatistics core and Bateman's lab.

Samir Lopex Chahin has a BS in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in engineering management from Washington University, along with a BS in physics from Kansas Wesleyan University. He joined the lab in the beginning of 2021 to assist in bench work from ongoing projects, develop automated processes to improve throughput and quality of experiments, optimize data analysis and results and assist the team in decision making. His main goal will be to shorten the cycle time it takes from starting an experiment to having results while maintaining quality at its maximum.

Brendan Lucey is an associate professor of neurology.  He is the Sleep Medicine Section head and see patients at the Washington University Multidisciplinary Sleep Medicine Center.  Lucey is currently funded by a K76 Beeson career development award from the National Institute on Aging to study sleep and human amyloid-beta kinetics.  The primary focus of his work is to investigate if sleep disturbances may serve as a marker for Alzheimer’s disease and if treatment of sleep disturbances may prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Justin Melendez received his PhD in genetics and genomics from Washington University in St. Louis where he worked on developing tools for molecular biology and sequencing technologies. His work in the Bateman lab focuses on studying the connection between human aging and neurodegenerative disease, understanding how and why we age and developing therapeutic interventions to extend human life and health span.

Soumya Mukherjee is a research instructor in the Department of Neurology at Washington University in St. Louis. He obtained his PhD in chemistry from the University of Calcutta and specializes in proteomics and mass spectrometry. He joined the Bateman lab in 2022. His current research interests are in understanding the molecular mechanisms in neurodegeneration and the role protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) has to play during disease progression. Specifically he is interested in the 1) cross-talk of PTMs during disease staging, 2) protein aging and 3) altered proteoforms in neurodegenerative diseases. His goals are in translation of these findings using analytical techniques for the development of disease biomarkers.

Nicolas Oatts joined the Bateman lab in 2018 after nine years of industry experience. His previous work included: lab testing for external clients, research and development, and quality control. His current work with the Bateman lab is mainly focused on the plasma amyloid beta project.

Vitaliy Ovod is the first author on the very first paper that reports plasma aß measures as a biomarker for amyloidosis and has potential to become a simple blood test for underlying pathophysiology in AD. He runs LC-MS analysis of clinical plasma studies for validation of findings and improves LC-MS method for accuracy and robustness.

Ovod develops, maintains lab’s in-house research database. Also, he leads data analysis on major projects of the lab including but not limited to quantitation, visualization and software automation. Another of his duties is overseeing and advising on all data management matters. Ovod joined department of Neurology in 2008, previously he was employed by Pfizer and had been developing LC-MS methods and utilizing it to measure biomarkers for osteoarthritis.

Manohar BN Pradhan has a MEng in electrical/control engineering and a BS in systems engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, along with a BA in analytical chemistry from Westminster College. His interest mainly involves modeling, simulation and control of dynamic systems. He joined the Bateman lab in May 2022 as a manager for quality control and equipment. He assists in developing automated processes, data analysis and up keeping of automated/analytical instruments which enables improvement in the quality of experiments and optimization of laboratory processes.

Chihiro Sato is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology and an NIH K01 scholar. She is currently researching the kinetics of tau in the human central nervous system in vivo and in vitro. She is also interested in studying tau profile in Alzheimer’s disease and various tauopathies hoping to improve early diagnostics.

Suzanne Schindler is an assistant professor of neurology.  She sees patients with memory concerns in a weekly clinic and attends on the inpatient neurology consult service.  Schindler has received a K23 career development award from the National Institute on Aging to study fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer disease.  The primary focus of her work is on predicting if and when cognitively normal individuals will develop symptoms of Alzheimer disease dementia.

Chris Steger graduated from Truman State University with a BS in Chemistry in Spring 2020. He chose to pursue this college/career direction after personally experiencing the wonderful affects that pharmaceuticals can have on the human body. Chris has been working in the biochemistry field since graduating college and sees himself continuing in this field indefinitely. He enjoys using his various skills and learning new skills to aid the Bateman Lab in accomplishing the ambitious goals of their groundbreaking projects, exercising his strengths and being challenged to grow in his weaknesses, and getting to collaborate and work with a lively and diverse set of team members.

Axelle A.T. Vanparys is a biomedical sciences student hailing from the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain, Belgium). Having successfully completed her bachelor's degree, she embarked on her master's journey with a specialization in neuroscience in September 2021. As part of her master's program, she engaged in a year-long internship during which she wrote her master’s thesis dedicated to the Tau ubiquitination profile in Tauopathies. To further enhance her expertise in the field of mass spectrometry and Tau post-translational modifications, Axelle has joined Bateman's lab for a four-month period. She is mostly working on Tau phosphorylation in the CSF.