Dr. Maegawa is a physician-scientist conducting research in lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs), including developing therapies based on the discovery of novel targets relevant to driving pathogenesis of the progressive neurodegenerative manifestations. The Maegawa lab uses diverse methodologies and innovative to develop cell-based high-throughput screening assays to identify small molecules that can target critical targets in neurological LSDs. Dr. Maegawa, with an outstanding clinical team, is also establishing a dedicated LSD clinical program to offer specialized care and clinical trials opportunities for patients and families. Dr. Maegawa also holds a clinical faculty appointment, and he participates in providing care for patients with inherited metabolic and other genetic disorders.

Dr. Aditya is working on different projects to identify novel therapeutic small molecules to treat neurological manifestations of lysosomal disorders. Dr. Aditya has extensive experience in both basic and translational research at the interface of biology and chemistry, with expertise in nanomedicine and animal models. Dr. Aditya's Ph.D. was from CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, India, with a focus on designing functional nanoparticles against skin cancer as well as engineering photoprotective materials. Before joining Maegawa lab, Dr. Aditya conducted postdoctoral studies at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center with a focus on nanomaterials that can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and worked on a Biotech startup company developing peptide-based drug molecules and small molecule hits against metastatic breast cancer.  

Dr. Hsueh is a neuropharmacologist with in-depth experience in cell culture and rodent models of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Dr. Hsueh is interested in preclinical drug development, utilizing his expertise to evaluate novel compounds that attenuate neurodegenerative disease progression. Dr. Hsueh received his Ph.D. in Neural Regenerative Medicine from Taipei Medical University, Taiwan, in 2019 and proceeded with postdoctoral training at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), at the NIH, Baltimore, MD. He joined Dr. Maegawa’s lab this winter, 2024, focusing on establishing a patient-specific disease-cell model of Globoid cell leukodystrophy (GLD) and other neuronopathic lysosomal disorders using high-throughput screening for novel drug development.

Ms. Zhiru Wang is a research coordinator at Columbia University Irving Medical Center at Pediatrics. Ms. Wag is working on the implementation of several clinical studies as part of the LSD Clinical program at Columbia University. Ms. Wang is actively involved in investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored clinical projects. Ms. Wang has a B.A. degree in biology and an MPH in environmental health sciences. She is experienced in qualitative studies, and her research interests primarily revolve around community health, health equity, the intersection of climate and health, and effective science communication methodologies.