Nalini R
- Research Program Mentor

PhD at Northwestern University

Expertise

Neuroscience, Biology - Cell and Molecular, Neurodegenerative diseases, Mass Spectrometry

Bio

Hello! My name is Nalini and I'm a Neuroscience PhD at Northwestern University Med. where my research focuses on uncovering the mechanisms of proteostasis impairments in Alzheimer’s disease. I completed my undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at The University of Miami. I am very passionate about mentorship and have significant experience teaching from directing STEM outreach organizations to competitive dance teams to graduate admission counseling. I have worked with many students on applications for various programs and believe that the key is to guide students to create an honest narrative that showcases who they are through their unique experiences.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Create a Scientific Poster!

Create a scientific poster on a topic of interest that has an introduction, methods, results, and conclusion sections.

Design a hypothetical clinical drug trial to test the efficacy of a new Alzheimer's disease drug.

Learn how to set up an experimental design to test a new Alzheimer's disease drug. What controls are important? Who are the ideal patients? What metric is being assessed? How do you know if the drug worked?

Design a Mass Spec based experiment to test a new Alzheimer's drug in mice.

What does the drug do? What mouse model do you use? What are you measuring? What controls will you set up? What is the end read out be? What proteins will you investigate?

Write a scientific review of a topic of your choice!

Learn how to gather information from previous literature to construct a literature review on any topic of interest.

Teaching experience

TA-ships at Northwestern University. I run a STEM Outreach Organization that teaches Chicago Public School students and teachers. I teach a yearly course at Walter Payton HS in Chicago. Certified mentor during undergraduate studies. I mentor undergraduate students in my lab daily.

Credentials

Work experience

Northwestern University (2018 - 2024)

PhD

UCSF (2025 - Current)

Postdoctoral Fellow

Education

University of Miami

BS Bachelor of Science (2017)

Neuroscience and Mathematics

Northwestern University

MS Master of Science (2018)

Neurobiology