Principal Investigator

Erzsebet M Szatmari, PhD

Dr. Szatmari started her research program at ECU in 2018 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, focusing on signaling pathways involved in early stage Alzheimer’s disease. Prior to this appointment, she worked as a Research Scientist II at Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (2012-2018).

Dr. Szatmari’s early postgraduate training was in neuroprotection against excitotoxicity at the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (2003-2006), where she identified the role of GSK-3β in excitotoxicity and the neuroprotective role of the brain-specific scaffolding protein, called KSR-1. In 2007, Dr. Szatmari joined the laboratory of Dr. Ryohei Yasuda at Duke University Medical Center as a postdoctoral research associate. While at Duke University, Dr. Szatmari identified the role of the brain-specific protein, ADAP1 (Centaurin alpha-1) in synaptic dysfunction associated with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Her work at Duke University was supported by a Ruth K. Broad Award and an individual NRSA (F32) fellowship.

Dr. Szatmari completed her PhD studies in Cell Biology at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania and Biological Research Center, Szeged, Hungary in 2003, studying the signaling mechanisms that control permeability of the blood-brain barrier.

Please visit pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov to view publications.