People in the Lab
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Matt Rowan, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
​Dr. Matthew J.M. Rowan is an Assistant Professor at Emory University School of Medicine and Adjunct Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech. His research centers on cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuronal signaling, with a strong focus on neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Dr. Rowan leads a multidisciplinary lab that employs advanced techniques including two-photon imaging, electrophysiology, and in vivo genetic engineering.
erimental Medicine,
Viktor J. Oláh, Ph.D.
Instructor
Viktor is faculty member in the Rowan lab at Emory. He completed his doctoral training in Hungary at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, where he studied subcellular excitability of hippocampal CCK-expressing interneurons and the connection between the dentate gyrus and the CA3 region. He mainly employs ex vivo brain slice patch clamp electrophysiology and computational modeling to probe neuronal functions. Currently, he is working on exploring the dendritic nonlinearities of cortical layer 2/3 pyramidal cells using both ex vivo and in vivo electrophysiology, and machine learning.
Yeeun Yook, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Yeeun (Yenny) joined the Rowan Lab at Emory University as a postdoctoral researcher after earning her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During her graduate studies, she uncovered molecular mechanisms by which amyloid-beta drives neuronal hyperexcitability in early-stage Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Additionally, she explored the impact of cellular stress on neuronal activity across several neurological disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Her current research focuses on understanding the interplay between synaptopathy and tau pathology in the progression of AD, using a combination of in vitro and ex vivo approaches.
Brianna Bixler, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Bri (she/her) earned her B.S. double majoring in Genetics and Philosophy at UW-Madison. She earned her Ph.D. from the Genetics and Molecular Biology program at Emory in 2023. In the Rowan lab, Bri builds computational pipelines and complementary benchwork experiments to understand disease and modulate disease phenotypes. Bri is investigating cell-type-specific mechanisms that contribute to resilience against cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease.
Using deep learning to advance understanding of cortical circuits in health and disease
Frankie Ghinger, B.A.
Research Specialist
Frankie (she/they) received a B.A in Biology and a B.A. in Psychology from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Frankie is a former MD/PhD student at Emory University who is transitioning to the PhD pathway. She is currently conducting research under the co-mentorship of Dr. Rowan and Dr. James Zheng. Her work explores synaptic mechanisms and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus.
Emmie Banks
Neuroscience Ph.D. Student
Emmie is a Ph.D. student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at Emory. She previously ran large clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and researched in vivo biomarkers in AD patients using PET imaging. In her graduate research, she is now investigating mechanisms of cellular dysfunction in early-stage Alzheimer's disease, with a focus on the relationship between circuit hyperexcitability and the development of tau pathology. Outside of the lab, Emmie enjoys running, weightlifting, and working with the graduate student-worker union.
Alumni
Annie Goettemoeller, Ph.D.
Neuroscience Ph.D. Candidate
Annie was a Ph.D. student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at Emory. In her graduate research, she combined cell-type specific manipulation methods with patch-clamp electrophysiology and proteomics to understand mechanisms of cellular dysfunction in early-stage Alzheimer's disease.
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Current Location: Stanford; Postdoc
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Sneha Malepati
former Undergraduate Research Assistant
Sneha worked in the lab as a 4th year undergraduate student at Emory studying Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology, and Physics.
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Current location: Yale; Post Bacc
Anna Eaton
former Undergraduate Research Assistant
Anna is an undergraduate student in The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory. She has been with the Rowan Lab for a year now, and is interested in furthering her understanding of neuroscience applications in biomedical engineering. Outside of research, Anna enjoys painting, weightlifting, running, reading, and has previously held a Co-Op position with Avanos Medical.