Center on the Biology of Aging

Dillon Shapiro is a student in the lab of Professor Gregorio Valdez. In his thesis project, he is characterizing a subpopulation of NG2-positive glia in the mouse brain which also express S100B. His analysis of S100B-GFP, NG2-DsRed double-reporter mice has shown that this population of cells is present at high density in the early postnatal brain and progressively decreases with advancing age. Dillon is now studying the potential involvement of this unique population of glial cells in Alzheimer’s Disease using the APP/PS1, 5XFAD, and PS19 mouse models of the disease. Dillon matriculated in September 2018 at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and transferred to Brown in September 2019 to remain with his mentor Dr. Valdez. He is now in his fourth year of graduate studies. His support on this T32 started 03/01/21. His work has already contributed to one published paper and more are in preparation.