van der Linden Lab

Lab Members

Dr. van der Linden received his Ph.D. from the University of Utrecht studying G-protein coupled receptor pathways in the lab of Ronald Plasterk at the Hubrecht Institute. He then completed his postdoctoral work in the lab of Piali Sengupta at Brandeis University where he studied the salt-inducible kinase pathway. He has been a principal investigator since 2009.

Principal Investigator

Alexander (Sander) van der Linden

2016 - present

Integrative Neuroscience Ph.D. candidate

Outstanding Teaching Assistant (2016)

B.Sc. Neuroscience, University of Nevada, Reno (2016)

I am interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying sleep-metabolic interactions. Particularly, my research focusses on the SIK3 pathway, and the role of diet in sleep regulation.

Graduate Student

Aja McDonagh

2019 - present

Cellular and Molecular Biology M.Sc. student

University of Nevada, Reno

Graduate Student

Hussam (Sam) Alshareef

2018 - present

Biology major, University of Nevada, Reno

Undergraduate Student

Tatiana Nikooei

Recent Lab Alumni

Jaffar Bhat - Postdoctoral Scholar (2019) - Currently Assistant Professor

Ari Winbush - Postdoctoral Scholar (2013-2016) - Currently a Research Associate in the Singh Lab at the University of Oregon

Jeremy Fodor - Cellular and Molecular Biology, Ph.D (2019) - Currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Raizen Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, PA

Jeannette Crew - Undergraduate researcher (2018-2019) - Currently a medical student at the School of Medicine, UNLV, NV

David Viramontes - Undergraduate researcher, Biotechnology (2018-2019)

Kendal Warner - Undergraduate researcher (2014-2019) - Currently a medical student at the School of Medicine, UNR, NV

Thoann Ngo - Undergraduate researcher (2017) - Currently in PA school at the New York Institute of Technology with a focus on osteopathic medicine

Matthew Gruner - Cellular and Molecular Biology, Ph.D. (2017) - Currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Goga Lab at UCSF, CA

Alexandru-voda Loan - Undergraduate researcher, IURP Manchester University (2016-2017) - Currently a Ph.D. student at Oxford University, United Kingdom