Genetics

People who primarily investigate genes and inheritance patterns, counsel people about genetic testing and/or collect genetic specimens.

Alexis Oddi

Asst. Clinical Research Coord.

Alexis is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Data Science and a concentration in Urban Science. As an Undergraduate Research Assistant, Alexis studied the impact of the technology industry on housing in the Bay Area. Her specialities include data mapping and data visualization, and she is deeply interested in the intersections of neurology, data science, and social justice.

Taru Flagan

Research Scientist

Taru received a bachelor of science degree in cognitive neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego and completed a PhD degree in psychology in the Self-Regulation Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin in 2016. She joined the Dementia Imaging Genetics Lab in 2017 to support neuroimaging methods for understanding the underlying biology of genetic variants of frontotemporal dementia.

Claire Clelland, MD, PhD

Assistant Adjunct Professor

The Clelland laboratory aims to develop cures for dementia and related neurodegenerative diseases. She is focused on monogenic causes of frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, such as mutations in the C9orf72 gene. She and her team develop CRISPR gene editing approaches in relevant cell types derived from human iPSCs and are working to develop better cell model systems of disease.

Argentina Lario Lago, PhD

Asst. Professional Researcher

Argentina Lario Lago is the Biospecimen & Genetics Programs Manager at the Memory and Aging Center. 

Ana Tyler

Program Manager

Ana Tyler, JD, MA, received her undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University and her law degree with a concentration in health law and policy and master’s degree in bioethics from Case Western Reserve University. After completing a fellowship in Clinical Ethics from Sutter Health (California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco), she worked as a clinical ethicist at Beaumont Health in the metro Detroit, Michigan area.

Alyson Marcelo

Practice Coordinator

Alyson is a practice coordinator that handles many sub-specialty clinics for the MAC such as Huntington’s disease, movement disorders and genetics. She graduated from CSU Long Beach with a bachelor’s degree in health science. She enjoys baking desserts, learning about the Korean culture and language, and has a passion for helping all those in need.

Liwen Zhang, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Liwen Zhang is a postdoctoral fellow in the Lee Dementia Imaging Genetics Lab. She received her PhD in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Groningen in 2016. After that, she worked as a research fellow at the National University of Singapore and Duke-NUS Medical School jointly, where she worked on Alzheimer’s disease using neuroimaging methods.

Sarat Vatsavayai, PhD

Specialist

Sarat Vatsavayai received a master of science degree in Human Genetics from Andhra University, India. He then did his doctoral work in the field of Huntington’s disease at the Open University, UK, where he was characterizing a novel mouse model and was trying to find out if DNA repeat instability could modify disease progression. In July 2013, he joined Dr.

Andrea Argouarch

Assistant Specialist

Andrea Argouarch is an assistant specialist in the Kao Lab. She graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, with an MS degree in biomedical engineering and a specialization in stem cell research.

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