Lee Lab Profile & Members

Lee, JuneyoungJuneyoung Lee PhD – Assistant Professor

Education & Training
PhD Computational Biology and Medical Science, The University of Tokyo – Tokyo, Japan

Areas of Interest
Clinical interests: aging, ischemic stroke, neurodegenerative diseases
Research interests: neuro-immune interactions, host-microbe interactions, inter-organ communication, bacteriotherapy

Research
Dr. Lee’s Laboratory of Neuro-Mucosal Immunology explores (1) neuro-immune interactions, (2) host-microbe interactions and (3) inter-organ communication. Specifically, these include investigating the bidirectional communication between the brain and host mucosal tissues (e.g., gastrointestinal, respiratory and urogenital tracts) in the context of aging and age-related cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. The Lee Laboratory aims to interrogate the unknown mechanisms and target dysregulation in diseases with the goal of identifying novel therapeutic options by utilizing state-of-art techniques for metagenomics, metabolomics, flow cytometry, organoids and single-cell RNA sequencing.

Photo by Dwight C. Andrews/McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston Office of Communications

Anik Banerjee – GSBS Graduate Research Assistant

Education & Training
BS Chemistry (Biological Track), Texas A&M University – College Station, TX (2019)
MS Biomedical Sciences, University of Texas Health Center at Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – Houston, TX (2021)
PhD Immunology, University of Texas Health Center at Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – Houston, TX (2021-present)

Areas of Interest 
Research interests: gut microbiota-immune-brain axis, therapeutic manipulations of the microbiome in neurodegenerative and neurophysiological diseases
Clinical interests: neurology and neurosurgery

Research 
Neuroscience Program, Department of Neurology – MD Anderson UTHealth GSBS – Houston, TX (August 2021-present)
Mentors: Dr. Louise McCullough, MD/PhD and Dr. Juneyoung Lee, PhD
“The Detrimental Effects of Social Isolation toward the Microbiome and Host Metabolism”

Hobbies & Interests 
Painting, dogs, cars, bicycling and running

Patrick Mooz – GSBS Graduate Research Assistant

Education & Training
BS Neuroscience (Bachelors of Science and Arts), University of Texas at Austin – Austin, TX (2021)
MS Biomedical Sciences and Neuroscience, University of Texas Health Center at Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – Houston, TX (2021-present)

Areas of Interest
Research interests: MicroRNAs and the impact they have on post stroke social isolation
Clinical interests: Neurology, neurosurgery and radiology

Research & Experience
Neuroscience Program, Department of Neurology – MD Anderson UTHealth GSBS – Houston, TX (August 2021-present)
BRAINS Lab Summer Student, Department of Neurology – UT Health – Houston, TX (June – August 2018, June -August 2019)

Hobbies & Interests
Fishing and skiing

Alina Sprenger-Svacina, MD – Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Education & Training
MD Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne – Germany (2019)
Residency: Department of Neurology, University of Cologne – Germany (2019-present)
MD Doctoral Thesis: “MRI biomarkers to evaluate peripheral nerve damage in patients with inflammatory neuropathies” (2020)

Areas of Interest
Research interests: Gut microbiota-immune axis in neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, neuromuscular diseases
Clinical interests: Cerebrovascular neurology and neuroinflammatory and neuromuscular diseases

Research & Experience
I worked on clinical and laboratory research in the RG “Neuroinflammation and Neuromuscular Disorders,” under Dr. Helmar C. Lehmann at the University Hospital of Cologne in Germany (2015-2023). We focused on MRI biomarkers in patients with inflammatory neuropathies and neuromuscular disorders, and the gut microbiome in experimental autoimmune neuritis.  I have had international clinical internships in Internal Medicine at Inselspital Bern in Switzerland (2018) and in Neurosurgery and Cardiac Surgery at Christian Medical College in Vellore, India (2019).

Hobbies & Interests
Hiking, reading, sports, and traveling

Euan Zhang – Research Assistant I

Education & Training
BS Music Technology, Northeastern University – Boston, MA (2022)
EMT Texas Department of State Health Services (Aug. 2022)

Areas of Interest
Research interests:  I am interested in how gamma rate sensory stimulation can ameliorate symptoms and pathologies of Alzheimer’s disease and want to uncover the mechanism behind this phenomenon.

Research & Experience
Research Assistant, MINDLab (Music, Imaging, and Neural Dynamics Laboratory) – Northeastern University – Boston, MA (2019-2023)
BRAINS Lab Research Assistant,  Department of Neurology – UT Health – Houston, TX (Jan. 2023-present)
EMT, Houston area – Houston, TX (Jul. 2022-present)

Hobbies & Interests
Electronic music production, nature photography, and building mechanical keyboards