Mary Alice Allnutt

Mary Alice received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Elon University, where she completed an undergraduate honors thesis on the ability of small-molecule catecholamines to stabilize amyloid beta oligomeric aggregates and alter their toxicity. Mary Alice then worked as a postbac in the Viral Immunology Section of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), studying several features of human herpesvirus-6 including its ability to integrate the viral genome into host chromosomes and the potential association of the virus with Alzheimer’s disease. As a PhD student in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program in the Chandra lab, she is focused on the role of the gut-brain axis in the initiation and spread of Parkinson’s pathology.