SAGERSTRÖM LAB
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Charles Sagerström, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF PEDIATRICS


Postdoctoral Fellow
Whitehead Institute/MIT
1993-1997

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Ph.D., Immunology
 Stanford University
1993

B.A., Biology
 Macalester College 
1987

​My research career started in college with an interest in Immunology that I pursued through graduate school.  I was particularly interested in cell fate decisions among immune cells and this led me to carry out postdoctoral research studying embryonic development.  I started my own research group at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1997, and in 2019 I relocated to the University of Colorado Medical School.  My group has a long-standing interest in understanding how embryonic development is programmed at the level of gene expression.  We primarily use zebrafish as a model organism and we apply genome-wide approaches to study transcriptional regulation in early embryogenesis.
Email Charles
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​Yong-ll Kim,
​Ph.D.​
instructor
Ph.D., Microbiology
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Wonkwang University School of Medicine
​2017


M.S., Biology 
Chungnam National University
2011


​B.S., Biology
Chungnam National University
2009

​When I was an undergraduate student, I worked with a master’s degree student who was trying to generate a mutant line of zebrafish using insertional mutagenesis.
After joining my master’s degree program, I worked on a project to characterize cells that form bone. I generated a bone-specific col10a1
:GFP transgenic zebrafish.
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I joined my Ph.D. program and started working on my project that focused on the role of peroxisome-related genes during zebrafish development. During this time, I generated several alleles of zebrafish mutants and transgenic zebrafish related to peroxisome biology.
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​Currently I work in the Sagerström lab as a postdoctoral research fellow. Here, my research focuses on investigating the role of hindbrain-related genes during zebrafish development.
EMAIL YONG-IL
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Austin Adkins, Ph.D.
postdoctoral fellow​
Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences Research, Neuroscience
Eastern Virginia Medical School
2023

M.S., Biomedical Sciences Research, Neuroscience
Eastern Virginia Medical School
2020

B.S., Marine Biology
Old Dominion University
2017


My early work focused on the mechanisms by which the sleep and neuroimmune systems are linked and integrated under homeostatic and altered physiological states. This work aimed to understand the bidirectional relationship of these systems, and how these interactions may alter brain circuits, and subsequently modulate other systems (e.g., learning and memory, sensorimotor function, etc.), and their relevance for neuropsychiatric diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. 

It is becoming increasing clear that neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders share cellular and molecular patterns suggests that neuropsychiatric disorders originate from early developmental defects. Understanding these interconnected pathways is vital for identifying at-risk populations and promising targets for therapeutic interventions, although they remain poorly understood.​
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I joined the Sagerström lab in the fall of 2023. My current work focuses on mutations in transcription factors and epigenetic regulators which cause developmental defects by disrupting neurogenesis. The resulting misassembled neural circuits and aberrant neural activity may then manifest as neuropsychiatric disorders later in life, thereby explaining links between neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions. Additionally, it may shed light on the variations in onset and severity of these disorders.
EMAIL AUSTIN
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Sylvia Nunez 
Ph.D. CANDIDATE
B.S., Integrative Biology University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
​2016

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​During my undergraduate career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I had the opportunity to work in Dr. Felipe Soto-Adames's lab studying the molecular evolution of paralogous genes involved in muscle contractions in insects and decapods.

​I joined the Sagerström lab as a PhD student in Cell Biology, Stem Cells, and Development researching cell fate decisions at the midbrain-hindbrain boundary in zebrafish. 
Email Sylvia
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Cameron Bennett
ph.d. candidate
B.S., Genomics and Molecular Genetics
Michigan State University
​2021

While an undergraduate at Michigan State University, I had the opportunity to work in Dr. Ingo Braasch’s lab. My research focused on the functional analysis of the endothelin gene Edn4 in neural crest cells and their derivatives in zebrafish. 
 
I joined the Sagerström lab as a Ph.D. student in the Molecular Biology program in 2022, and my research focuses on investigating the role of Vgll3 in the transcriptional regulation of early embryonic hindbrain cell fate pathways. 

EMAIL CAMERON
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Katie Glowinski
professional research assistant
B.S., Biology
Concordia University St. Paul 2021

In my undergrad at Concordia, I had the opportunity to work under and learn from Dr. Mandy Brosnahan and Dr. Taylor Mach in a study focused on S. aureus screening.

After graduation, I began working in a Quality Control lab at Bio-Techne in Minneapolis, where I would perform a variety of assays to ensure product specifications for proteins and antibodies.

I recently moved out to Colorado, and joined the Sagerstrom lab in September 2023. I am excited to be on this team and learn more from the great people around me!


EMAIL KATIE
Stevi Tomlinson
professional research assistant
M.Sc., Biology
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
2023

EMAIL STEVI

Lab Alumni

Heather Reichenbach, B.A. (2023)
Clinical Research Coordinator | UCD Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO

Ethan Wright, M.Sc. (2023)
Research Lab Supervisor | Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA
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Jelena Kresoja-Rakic, Ph.D. (2023)
Scientist | ArtisanBio; Louisville, CO
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Jessica Warns, Ph.D. (2022)
Adjunct Professor | Northern State University; Aberdeen, SD
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