In the Lodato lab, Dr. Jenn Ziegenfuss is researching how human aging and brain cell type are promoting the accumulation of somatic mutations & mutational signatures in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease. Jenn is excited to use and develop cutting edge technologies to bridge the gap between cell biology and human genomics in hopes that new translatable discoveries are made that can revolutionize the treatment of currently untreatable diseases. Prior to joining the lab, Jenn was a post-doc in Wes Grueber’s lab at Columbia University. Her research in the fruit fly explored neuron-substrate interactions and the long-term maintenance & protection of sensory neuron morphology and function. While in the lab, Jenn was a Charles H. Revson postdoctoral fellow. Jenn received her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Medical School where she worked in the lab of Marc Freeman. In the Freeman lab, she explored how glial cells recognize and respond to dying and degenerating neurons. Her work showed that glial responses to neurodegeneration are genetically separable events mediated by distinct signaling pathways. She also helped identify a cell-autonomous suppressor of degeneration, providing direct evidence that axons actively promote their own destruction.