Bryndon Oleson, PhD

I am a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Ursula Jakob’s lab in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology department at the University of Michigan. I received my doctoral degree from the Biochemistry department at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where I trained in the lab of Dr. John Corbett and investigated how nitric oxide regulates stress-responsive signaling pathways and controls the fate of pancreatic β-cells during the pathogenesis of type-1 diabetes. During my PhD training, I developed a strong interest in the study of the mechanisms that control cell and organismal fate decisions under conditions of stress. To continue to pursue these scientific interests, I joined Dr. Jakob’s lab in 2018 as a postdoctoral fellow to study the role of the neuroprotective polymer polyphosphate in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. We anticipate that understanding the mechanisms by which polyphosphate protects cells from amyloid toxicity will prove valuable for the design of therapies aimed to treat and manage Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.