Resham Chhabra, PhD

Currently Dr. Chhabra is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases, with a particular interest in AD. Prior to this position, she completed her PhD in molecular medicine with a focus on neuroscience and nanomedicine at Ulm University, Germany, and an MSc degree in neuroscience, specializing in neurodegeneration, at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, England. During her master’s level training, she investigated the utility of MRI imaging in detecting early pathological changes in APP transgenic mice. Her PhD research in the field of nanoneuromedicine focused on developing novel therapeutic techniques for the delivery of bioactive substances into the CNS using nanomedical approaches. This involved testing of novel hybrid nanoparticles for targeted therapeutic delivery of proteins and/or metal ions into the CNS. In parallel, she investigated the proteins of excitatory post-synapses, specifically scaffold proteins of the Shank family. She worked on questions of how the setup and function of synapses change during development and aging, and how this ‘normal’ pattern is altered under pathological conditions. Her research covers a broad spectrum of experimental work ranging from diagnostic tools and basic science to pharmaceutical approaches. She has expertise in animal and cell model systems, transgenic mice, nanomedicine, interaction of biometals with the nervous system, neuroanatomy, cell biology and biochemistry.