Neurodegeneration, tau, and things in between
The DCChung lab is curious about what can drive or suppress abnormal buildup of tau and other disease-related proteins in the brain, and all the complications that come with it in neurodegenerative diseases. We are particularly interested in how certain parts of the brain remain seemingly more protected than others during the disease progression. We will explore whether we can leverage protective molecular players in these resistant brain regions to combat neurodegeneration. Ultimately, our goal is to find creative therapeutic strategies that can effectively target pathological proteins in Alzheimer’s disease and other debilitating neurodegenerative diseases.
Our lab is a part of the Department of Cell Biology & Neuroscience (CBN) in the Rutgers School of Arts & Sciences (SAS). We are also affiliated with the Rutgers Brain Health Institute (BHI) and the Rutgers Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center.
Interested in our mission? Feel free to reach out to Chloe if you’d like to be part of this growing team!
About Chloe
Chloe first became interested in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research as an undergraduate majoring in biochemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, when her late grandmother was diagnosed with AD. Intrigued by how people lose complex traits like memory and cognition as they age, Chloe examined the role of microRNAs in AD pathogenesis in Dr. Jungsu Kim’s lab at Washington University School of Medicine. Then, she went to pursue a PhD in Neuroscience at Mayo Clinic, where she explored tau protein seeding and aggregation in Dr. Leonard Petrucelli’s lab.
For her postdoctoral training, she joined Dr. Huda Y. Zoghbi’s lab at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), where she studied the pathology-resisting properties of the atypical “big tau” isoform. She also investigated novel regulators that can critically modulate tau levels. Chloe received several awards for her research, including the BrightFocus AD Research Postdoctoral Fellowship and the BCM CAND Scholars Award. She launched her independent lab at Rutgers University in January 2026.
Funding support
We are deeply grateful for the generous support of our funding agencies. Their belief in our science makes this work possible!
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