Check out the newest publication from the lab, led by Drs Angelica Kowalchuk and Ashis Sinha! In this study, we determined that perineuronal nets (PNNs) structurally mature earlier in the Mecp2-null Rett syndrome model brain, and that Mecp2-null astrocytes play a key role in the precocious formation of PNNs on neurons. These results provide new insight into the mechanisms and structure of aberrant PNNs in Mecp2-null cortex and identify potential new avenues for targeted rescue or reversal of the precocious closing of the critical period in RTT. You can check it out here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jnc.70503
Research Updates
The lab had a busy and productive summer! Congrats to undergraduate researchers Gabrielle Essex and Stacey Roberts who did an excellent job presenting their summer research projects at the SU Undergraduate Research Symposium! Graduate students Nasim Khatibi and Sara Brigida followed this up presenting their research at the joint International and American Society for Neurochemistry Meeting in NYC!
New preprint alert!
The lab has a new preprint posted to BioRxiv! You can check it out here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.13.670146v1
Welcome summer undergrad researchers!
We are excited to have Renee Crown Honors student Gabrielle Essex and MicroFFABS REU student Stacey Roberts working in the lab this summer. Welcome!
Welcome Sara!
We are happy to officially welcome a new graduate student to the lab – Sara Brigida! Can’t wait to see all that you accomplish!
Welcome to new rotation students
A big welcome to 2 graduate students rotating in the lab this semester – Isabel Ross and Susan Moradi Nasab! Glad to have you with us!
New Paper!
We are excited to share our first paper from 2022, now published in Neurobiology of Disease! This was a rather monumental undertaking by recently graduated Dr. May Ribeiro to uncover new insights into the ability of vitamin D to modulate behaviors and the cortical transcriptome in Mecp2+/- Rett syndrome model mice! Congrats May!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969996122000274?via%3Dihub
Welcome Lan!
Welcome to new rotating graduate student Yiling Lan – glad to have you on the team!
Congrats May!
Congratulations to Dr. Mayara Ribeiro who absolutely rocked her thesis defense! We are so proud of the first PhD graduate of the MacDonald lab!
New Preprint!
Our newest study is now posted on bioRxiv! Congrats on this fantastic work go to the soon to defend May! We identified over 200 genes whose dysregulated expression in the Mecp2 heterozygous cortex is rescued by dietary vitamin D and we found that motor and anxiety-like phenotypes in these Rett syndrome model mice are modulated by vitamin D. Check it out here: