#TraineeTuesday: Elizabeth Woo

From the Lab to the Limelight - Blog version of our #TraineeTuesday Twitter series

Meet Elizabeth Woo, this week's #TraineeTuesday star! This MD/PhD candidate — co-mentored by Amy Arnsten, PhD, and Lauren Hachmann Sansing, MD — recently won the biological sciences division of Yale's 3-minute thesis competition (preliminary round)!

Elizabeth studies how calcium dysregulation affects synapses in vulnerable regions of the brain. Calcium dysregulation is highly implicated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and has been correlated with the severity of AD pathology and cognitive deficits in COVID-19 patients. However, scientists do not fully understand the pathways through which this dysregulation renders the synapse vulnerable.

Elizabeth’s project may have an answer.

Using a genetic mouse model, she has uncovered a potential mechanism involving an enzyme called GLO1. She hopes to better understand GLO1’s effect in the neurons and on nearby microglia. “I think this project contributes to our understanding of what makes the vulnerable regions of our brain, vulnerable. If we can better understand what underlies the vulnerability, we can think about ways of protecting against that vulnerability before the disease begins,” she said.

When she first came to Yale, Elizabeth was set on joining a neuroscience lab where she could study neurodegeneration. Neuroimmunology hadn’t crossed her mind. However, she was quickly enchanted by the field of immunobiology through her medical school curriculum. To help her choose between the disciplines, she did two lab rotations: one in Dr. Sansing’s lab, and the other in Dr. Arnsten’s.

By the end, she realized she didn’t want to choose.

Her interests were at the intersection of their labs: Elizabeth wanted to study how neurons communicate with nearby glial cells in the vulnerable regions of the brain. So, she proposed a joint mentorship with Dr. Sansing and Dr. Arnsten. Despite having never worked together or even studied the crosstalk between neurons and glial cells, they excitedly agreed.

“Our joint meetings are great spaces for us to discuss and uncover what are the big questions at the intersection of these fields and how we might answer them. I have learned a lot through this experience, such as the importance of being open to new ideas, the need to include many people with various areas of expertise to provide context and shape questions, and the necessity of failure and more importantly, having a safe environment to be able to fail as many times as it takes,” Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth was first introduced to neuroscience during her freshman year at the University of Chicago. Her grandmother had recently been diagnosed with AD. Desiring to understand the disease deeper — and answer the questions flooding her mind — she joined the lab of Gopal Thinakaran, PhD. There, she spent four years investigating the regulation of BACE1, an enzyme involved in generating Aβ species.

Though Elizabeth loved her research experience, she wanted to go beyond the bench. “I wanted to know the human carrying the disease and realized how much we could learn from them to better inform the questions in the lab,” she said. Naturally, Elizabeth decided to apply to MD/PhD programs. When it came time to choose a school, Yale’s community immediately attracted her.

That support continued when she enrolled. Elizabeth said she’s received help from people she’s never even encountered before — people willing to go above and beyond for her. To describe her six years here, Elizabeth pointed to a famous quote by Dumbledore in the book series Harry Potter: “Help will always be given to those who ask for it.”

After Yale, Elizabeth will pursue research as part of her residency training. She hopes to continue neuro-immunology research in the context of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. “I am still open to pursuing other questions as long as they are directly linked to serving patients and alleviating suffering,” she added.