L. Daniel Estrella

I started my postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard Medical School/MGH in the spring of 2025. I received my PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in May of 2025. My doctoral work focused on understanding the co-occurrence of different brain pathologies present across multiple neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Frontotemporal Dementia, and Traumatic Brain Injury. My neuroscientific background covers mitochondrial function at the synapse, the role of neuroinflammation in disease states, and the mechanisms of tau protein aggregation in disease-relevant brain regions. My current research focuses on characterizing the role of heat-shock proteins as a response from brain endothelial cells to neurodegenerative conditions, such as AD, using both experimental models of AD and postmortem human tissue. Fun fact: I have a big interest and have done research in the field of space neuroscience and the effects that microgravity/galactic cosmic rays have on the brain!