Haru Yamamoto

Haru is a first-year MD-PhD student from Yokohama, Japan and Greenwood, Indiana. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2022 with a B.A. in Molecular & Cell Biology and a minor in Data Science. During his time at UC Berkeley, Haru worked with Dr. Robert Edwards in the UCSF Department of Neurology and Physiology to investigate the molecular and cellular machinery that control transmission at neuronal synapses, with a particular focus on studying the normal function of the presynaptic protein α-synuclein to understand its role in neurotransmitter release and how its interactions with genetic determinants of Parkinson's disease (PD) may lead to neurodegeneration and pathogenesis. Haru is currently interested in neuronal cell biology, and hopes to study the cellular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration and neurodegenerative diseases in the future.