NINDS K99/R00 Awardee – January 2019
Yvette Wong was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. Her research in the lab of Dr. Dimitri Krainc aimed to investigate the neuronal role of a newly identified inter-organelle contact site between mitochondria and lysosomes, which acts as a potential pathway for crosstalk between mitochondria and lysosomes in neurons to regulate their function. Elucidating the role and regulation of mitochondria-lysosome contacts in human neurons provides valuable insight into the neuronal interplay between these two organelles, and reveals potential pathways which are misregulated to drive the progression of various human neurodegenerative diseases. Yvette received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania and earned a B.A. in Biology and Mathematics from Cornell University. Currently, Dr. Wong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.