Lab Members

Ghazal obtained her Ph.D. from Harvard University studying the role of Parkinson’s disease-related genes in axonal mitochondrial trafficking and turnover. In her postdoctoral fellowship at Weill Cornell, she studied the molecular mechanisms that stimulate glycolytic and mitochondrial ATP production in nerve terminals during electrical activity. Her laboratory investigates metabolic regulation of synaptic function and the mechanisms of metabolic plasticity in health and disease.

Jasmin completed her Bachelors in Biotechnology from the University of Applied Sciences in Mannheim, Germany. She obtained her Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 2022, studying sex differences in brain cancer metabolism. She identified sex differences in metabolite composition in gliomas and demonstrated that targeting glutamine metabolism attenuates growth in male, but not female, glioma cells. In the Ashrafi lab, Jasmin is interested in studying the metabolic interactions between glia cells and neurons and how those may be dysregulated in neurodegenerative diseases.
Jasmin enjoys baking and taking care of her indoor plant collection. She owns two dogs and usually can be found competing at local dog sport competitions during the weekends.

Marion did her Masters in Physiology, Pharmacology and Neurobiology and studied calcium sparkling in cardiomyocytes, and behavioral and cognitive impairments in a mouse model of Genetic Epilepsy with Febrile Seizures Plus (GEFS+) at Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France. She obtained her PhD in October 2020 and studied the impact of fatty acid metabolism on innate immune cells and identified e new role for monocytes during the brown adipose tissue remodeling. She is now interested in studying the impact of ketone bodies during synaptic transmission.

In her free time, Marion likes working out, hiking, baking French pastries and playing video games.

Anupama completed her Masters in Molecular and Human Genetics from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India and thereafter obtained my PhD from CSIR-Central Drug Research Drug Institute, Lucknow, India. Her doctoral work was focused on understanding the mechanism of organellar genome maintenance in Plasmodium falciparum. She identified key enzymes of base excision repair (BER pathway) that function to maintain the integrity of organellar genomes in the human malaria parasite. In the Ashrafi lab, she studies the signaling mechanisms that mediate neuronal adaptation to glucose deprivation.

In her free time, Anupama likes to read, travel, explore local cuisines and try adventure sports.