Genomic approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer disease and other dementias

Nick Cochran, PhD, joined HudsonAlpha as a faculty investigator in 2021. Cochran began at HudsonAlpha in 2015 as a postdoctoral fellow in the Myers lab. During his time at HudsonAlpha, Cochran has been a valuable contributor to the growth of the neurodegenerative disease research program. He led several projects that identified new gene candidates and risk variants in relevant genes involved in Alzheimer disease.

He also helped foster collaborations with international groups like the Research Dementia Latin America (ReDLat) consortium that aims to identify the unique genetic and socioeconomic/social determinants of health that drive Alzheimer disease and other dementias in Latin America.

His research focuses on genomic approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer disease and other dementias.

“My lab will focus on using genomic approaches to better understand neurodegenerative diseases, which we hope will lead to new approaches in diagnosis and treatment,” says Cochran. “I came to HudsonAlpha six years ago as a postdoc because I wanted to immerse myself in the world of genomics. I am excited to further my career as a faculty member here and continue to make discoveries with an end goal to improve the lives of those affected by neurodegenerative diseases.”

Cochran earned a PhD in neurobiology from University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2015, and a bachelor of chemical engineering from Auburn University in 2010.