Felipe A. Court is a Full Professor and Director of the Center for Aging Research and Healthy Longevity at Universidad Mayor (Santiago, Chile). He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging (California, USA), and Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Momentum Therapeutics, Inc. (USA).

Dr. Court earned his PhD at the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of Drs. Brophy and Ribchester, and later completed an EMBO postdoctoral fellowship at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan with Dr. Laura Feltri. There, he studied multiple aspects of peripheral nervous system (PNS) biology, including local protein synthesis in axons, factors that regulate nerve conduction velocity, and demyelinating disorders. In 2008, he established his laboratory at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, investigating mRNA transfer between glia and neurons and mechanisms of axonal degeneration relevant to neuroprotection. In 2016, he moved to Universidad Mayor, where he founded the Center for Integrative Biology.

His research bridges the CNS and PNS, using mouse models to define how aging alters axons and glial cells, with implications for brain function, regeneration, and neurodegenerative disease. In the PNS, his lab provided the first evidence that Schwann cell–derived exosomes support nerve regeneration. More recently, in collaboration with Dr. Ahmet Hoke at Johns Hopkins, his group demonstrated that Schwann cells become senescent with aging and chronic denervation, creating an inhibitory environment for axonal regeneration. Removing these senescent cells improves regeneration and functional recovery, highlighting a promising therapeutic opportunity.

In the CNS, his work identified necroptosis as a driver of axonal degeneration in conditions including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. His lab has shown that inhibiting necroptosis mitigates age-related cognitive decline and improves functional outcomes in models of neurodegeneration.

Selected recent publications

• Fuentes-Flores et al. EMBO Molecular Medicine (2023) — Senescent Schwann cells induced by aging and chronic denervation impair axonal regeneration following peripheral nerve injury.
• Arrazola et al. Aging Cell (2023) — Necroptosis inhibition counteracts neurodegeneration, memory decline, and key hallmarks of aging, promoting brain rejuvenation.

Academic indicators

• Publications: 110 | Citations: 10,800 | h-index: 51 | i10-index: 80

Dr. Khan graduated as the top-ranking student from the University of Cambridge’s accelerated medicine program. During his tenure, he received the prestigious Passingham Prize and became one of the youngest teachers in the university's history when he was invited to teach neuroscience at age 21.

Following medical school, Dr. Khan practiced at the University of Oxford John Radcliffe Hospital, serving as a clinical examiner and tutor. His extensive neurosurgical research career includes work at Cambridge, Harvard Medical School, and Boston Children's Hospital. Currently, Dr. Khan is a post-doctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University, specializing in traumatic peripheral nerve injury. In addition to guest lecturing at Johns Hopkins, he is a frequent international speaker and session chair. Notably, he was awarded the Jack Griffin Prize at the Peripheral Nerve Society 2025 Annual Meeting for the best oral presentation on traumatic and toxic neuropathy.

Patricia Jillian Ward, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology at Emory University School of Medicine. She serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for The International Symposium for Neural Regeneration and the steering committee for the NIH Common Data Elements in Preclinical Spinal Cord Injury Research. She is a member of the National Neurotrauma Society, the American Association of Anatomy, and the Society for Neuroscience, and serves as a council member for the Atlanta Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. Dr. Ward is also affiliated with Emory’s Neuroscience Graduate Program and the Genetics and Molecular Biology Graduate Program. She earned her B.S. in Animal Sciences from Auburn University, graduating summa cum laude as a Bryant-Jordan Student-Athlete Fellow. She completed her Ph.D. in Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology at the University of Louisville, supported by an NIH NRSA F31 fellowship, where she studied the effects of treadmill locomotor training on spinal cord injury outcomes in rats. Her postdoctoral research at Emory, funded by an NIH NRSA F32 fellowship, focused on enhancing peripheral axon regeneration through exercise, optogenetics, and electrical stimulation, emphasizing sex differences in transgenic models. Dr. Ward has been recognized with an Early Career Research Award from NIH/NICHD and the R.R. Bensley Early-Career Investigator Award in Cell Biology.

Dr. Taga is an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University, Department of Neurology, Neuromuscular Division specializing in neuromuscular disorders. He earned his medical degree at the University of Parma, Italy, where he also completed a neurology residency. Dr. Taga subsequently moved to the United States to join Dr. Nicholas Maragakis’ laboratory at Johns Hopkins University as a research postdoctoral fellow. Following this, he completed a second neurology residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and is currently pursuing advanced training as a neuromuscular fellow. His research focuses on utilizing human-induced pluripotent stem cells, multielectrode array recordings, and microfluidic devices to develop in vitro disease models and investigate the mechanisms of neurotoxicity and neuroprotection in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Dr. Athanasios Alexandris is a Research Associate in the Neuropathology division of the Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He earned his medical degree from the University of Leicester, UK, with an intercalated BSc in Neurosciences & Mental Health from Imperial College London. During his medical training, he conducted neuropathology research with the Neurodegenerative Pathology Research Group at Newcastle University and later pursued postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins in the laboratory of Dr. Vassilis E. Koliatsos, where he integrated experimental neuropathology with advanced cellular and molecular techniques to investigate axonal injury and repair mechanisms in both in vitro and in vivo models.

His current research focuses on understanding molecular pathways related to axonal degeneration and maintenance in the context of injury and neurodegenerative disease models, as well as exploring the role of axonal plasticity in the adult central nervous system in neurological recovery following injury.

Gabsang Lee is a Professor in the Institute for Cell Engineering, Department of Neurology and Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He obtained his Bachelor of Science, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the School of Veterinary Medicine at Seoul National University, South Korea. Following his postdoctoral training at Sloan Kettering Institute, he joined Johns Hopkins as an Assistant Professor 15 years ago. Dr. Lee is one of the pioneering researchers who utilized human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for disease modeling and drug discovery/validation. His laboratory continues this line of research, focusing on multiple neurological diseases and muscular dystrophies.

Dr. Jorge Gomez Deza is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cancer and Cellular Biology at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University. He earned his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. Chris Shaw, studying amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Following this, he joined the NIH under the mentorship of Dr. Claire Le Pichon, focusing on the effects of axon injury and chemotherapy on human neurons.

Currently, Dr. Gomez Deza's team centers on understanding the molecular mechanisms through which chemotherapy induces neuronal damage. His team employs iPSC-derived neurons and takes an unbiased multiomic approach. They integrate whole-genome CRISPRi screens, RNA-seq, and high-throughput confocal microscopy to identify new mechanisms of neuron injury. The lab maintains a strong clinical focus, with a deep commitment to uncovering novel molecular pathways driving axon degeneration and neuronal death. Their ultimate goal is to develop innovative therapeutic strategies to combat chemotherapy-induced neuronal damage.

Dr. Bipasha Mukherjee-Clavin is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and co-Director of the Johns Hopkins CMT clinic. She completed her MD/PhD degrees, Neurology residency, and clinical Neuromuscular fellowship in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and joined the Johns Hopkins Neurology faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2022. Her research is focused on understanding the early biology of CMT1A, a common, genetic demyelinating neuropathy, to support the development of rational therapeutics.

Diana Tavares Ferreira holds a PharmD/MS from the University of Coimbra (Portugal) and completed her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Sheffield (UK), followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at UT Dallas (US). In 2022, she received the Peter J. Dyck Abstract Award for Diabetic Neuropathy Research from the Peripheral Nerve Society. In January 2024, Diana began her role as an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at UT Dallas. Her research focuses on axonal transport and RNA regulation in neurodegeneration and peripheral neuropathies, employing a range of omics and computational approaches.

Dr. Cherief completed his academic and engineering training in Algeria and France, specializing in molecular biology, histology, and radiography. With a foundational background in food industry engineering, he transitioned into biomedical research, joining the James Lab at Johns Hopkins University as a postdoctoral fellow in 2019.Dr. Cherief’s research focuses on perivascular mesenchymal progenitor cells and the peripheral nervous system’s role in tissue regeneration. He recently identified two specific cell subtypes ($Pdgfr\alpha^+$ and $Pdgfr\beta^+$) that significantly improve cartilage health and reduce degradation in osteoarthritis models.Currently, Dr. Cherief is investigating the complex link between diabetic neuropathy and bone disease. By integrating omics, histology, and $\mu CT$ imaging, his work aims to uncover how the nervous system influences bone and tendon repair, particularly in the context of chronic metabolic conditions.