People

Program: Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Graduation Year: 2021

Thesis Advisor: Joseph M. Jez

Thesis Title: Prodrug Activation in Staphylococci and the Implications for Antimicrobial Development

Program: Plant and Microbial Biosciences

Graduation Year: 2022

Thesis Advisor: Elizabeth S. Haswell

Thesis Title: Insights Into the Non-Osmoregulatory Function of a Pollen-Specific Mechanosensitive Ion Channel

Program: Cell Biology & Biochemistry

Graduation Year: 1993

Thesis Advisor: David P. Cistola

Thesis Title: Determinants of Ligand Specificity for Three Intestinal Lipid Binding Proteins.

Program affiliation
Immunology
Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis

Research summary
Lymphoid tissue dynamics and antigen-presentation during infection, cancer and autoimmunity

Key words
imaging, inflammation, pathogenesis, mathematical modeling, multi-photon microscopy

Program affiliation
Neurosciences
Molecular Cell Biology
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Research summary
Mechanisms of neurodegeneration and targeted therapies for neurodegenerative diseases

Key words
ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), SOD1, TDP-43, C9ORF72, miRNA, Tau, Dementia, Neurodegeneration, Antisense oligonucleotides

Program: Evolution Ecology and Population Biology

Graduation Year: 2011

Thesis Advisor: Peter C. Hoch

Thesis Title: CAUSES OF RARITY IN GLADE-ENDEMIC PLANTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Program affiliation
Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology
Molecular Cell Biology

Research summary
Differentiation to and maturation of pancreatic insulin-producing β cells from human pluripotent stem cells capable of rapidly reversing diabetes

Key words
stem cell biology, regeneration, developmental biology, microscopy, single-cell RNA-sequencing, differentiation, tissue engineering, diabetes, organoids, transplantation, therapy

Program: Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Current advisor: Wayland W. L. Cheng, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: Grand View University, 2024

Program: Neurosciences

Graduation Year: 2015

Thesis Advisor: Gregory J. Zipfel

Thesis Title: Endogenous Protection in Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Program affiliation
General

Research summary
Dr. Minaya’s research lies at the intersection of stem cell modeling and genomics, elucidating molecular mechanisms of tauopathies, including frontotemporal dementia with tau pathology (FTD-tau) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). He engineers CRISPR-modified iPSCs from ancestrally diverse donors to model pathogenic MAPT mutations, integrating these with postmortem human brain transcriptomics and animal models.

Key words
Tauopathies; Stem Cell Modeling; Functional Genomics