D. Hansen Lab

Dr. David Hansen's lab studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, with emphases on Alzheimer’s disease risk genes and neuroimmune signaling. The goal of our research is to identify new biochemical approaches to combat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Please visit our Research tab to learn how our multi-pronged research approach (molecular, cellular, animal model, and multi-omics) is revealing how microglia and other CNS cell types guard against, or sometimes contribute to, neurodegeneration.

An equally important goal of the Hansen Lab is the mentoring and development of our student researchers. Our lab is organized into collaborative research teams, with each team led by a graduate student or post-doc who mentors a few undergraduate researchers and directs their contributions to that team's research project. We teach our undergraduate researchers to independently design experiments, remove sources of error or bias from their research methods, and obtain results that other team members can replicate. This organizational structure helps ensure that our research findings are reproducible while our students become top-notch medical researchers for the next phases of their careers.