Education & Training
- Ph.D.: Indiana University Indianapolis, 2016
- Ph.D.: Indiana University Indianapolis, 2016
- M.S.: University of Mumbai, 2009
- B.S.: University of Mumbai, 2007
Major Awards
- Knight ADRC Developmental Project Award, 2026-2027
- Knight ADRC REC Scholar, 2025-2027
- CurePSP Pipeline and Pathway Grant, 2025-2027
- George Bartzokis Travel Award, New Vision Research, 11th Annual Charleston Conferences on Alzheimer’s Disease, 2023
- Hope Center for Neurological Disorders and the Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, Just-in-time (JIT) core usage award, 2022
- Indiana University School of Medicine postdoctoral travel grant for the Society for Neuroscience meeting, 2017
- Indiana University School of Medicine graduate student travel grant for the American Association of Immunologists meeting, 2014
- Indiana University Simon Cancer Center Annual Cancer Research Day, Honorable Mention in Basic Science Category by Graduate Student, 2013
- Junior Research Fellowship, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, India, 2010
Research Interests
My research focuses on uncovering the cellular mechanisms driving neurodegeneration, specifically challenging the traditional view that microglia act merely as a reactive “clean-up crew” responding to existing neuronal pathology. Using human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models of Frontotemporal Dementia associated with tau pathology (FTD-tau), my work investigates how genetic mutations drive intrinsic, cell-autonomous defects within microglia themselves. By employing human stem cell-derived microglia, my work has uncovered that MAPT mutations implicated in tauopathies directly impair critical microglial functions – including phagocytosis, metabolic homeostasis, and inflammatory signaling. Uncovering these cell-autonomous defects is essential for identifying early, cell-type-specific therapeutic targets capable of slowing or stopping neurodegeneration in FTD and related tauopathies.
Key Focus Areas:
Cell-Autonomous Microglial Defects: Investigating how tau mutations directly cause intrinsic immune dysfunction independent of neuronal pathology.
Human iPSC Modeling: Utilizing patient-derived stem cells to model human-specific, cell-type-specific mechanisms in vitro .
Early Targeted Therapies: Shifting the FTD-tau therapeutic paradigm to intervene before overt neurodegenerative damage takes hold.
Recent Publications
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Inducible deletion of DGAT1 and 2 from microglia exacerbates neurodegeneration and endolysosomal lipid accumulation in male PS19 mice
Tabor, G. T., Litvinchuk, A., Chen, Y., Allison, A., Sun, E. W., van Lengerich, B., Davis, S. S., West, E., Schlachetzki, J. C. M., Zeng, C., Hu, H., Lin, P. B., Sharma, P., Chen, X., Parhizkar, S., Song, S., Bao, X., Senthil, L., Iyer, A. K. & You, S. F. & 17 others, , Jan 27 2026, In: Cell Reports. 45, 1, 116841.
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Cell autonomous microglia defects in a stem cell model of frontotemporal dementia tau
Iyer, A. K., Vermunt, L., Mirfakhar, F. S., Minaya, M., Acquarone, M., Koppisetti, R. K., Renganathan, A., You, S. F., Danhash, E. P., Schache, K. J., Verbeck, A., Galasso, G., Lee, S. M., Huang, G., Miller, K. J., Marsh, J., Nana, A. L., Spina, S., Seeley, W. W. & Grinberg, L. T. & 4 others, , Oct 2025, In: Molecular Psychiatry. 30, 10, p. 4776-4791 16 p.
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Ms4a4a deficiency ameliorates plaque pathology in a mouse model of amyloid accumulation
Danhash, E. P., Verbeck, A. C., Western, D., Díaz-Pacheco, A. S., Galasso, G., You, S. F., Huang, G., Starr, E., Miller, N., Nadarajah, C. J., Tiemann Powles, S., Musiek, E. S., Herz, J., Iyer, A. K., Cirrito, J., Cruchaga, C. & Karch, C. M., Aug 2025, In: Alzheimer’s and Dementia. 21, 8, e70580.
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Editorial: Myeloid cells as active players in human neurodegenerative diseases
Iyer, A. K., Moutinho, M., Ayata, P. & Karahan, H., 2025, In: Frontiers in Neuroscience. 19, 1712394.
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Targeted ASO-mediated Atp1a2 knockdown in astrocytes reduces SOD1 aggregation and accelerates disease onset in mutant SOD1 mice
Iyer, K., Schoch, K. M., Verbeck, A., Galasso, G., Chen, H., Smith, S., Oldenborg, A., Miller, T. M., Karch, C. M. & Bonni, A., Nov 2023, In: PloS one. 18, 11 November, e0294731.