Vanessa Casha, Ph.D.
Dr. Vanessa Casha received her Ph.D. in 2023 from UC Davis in the lab of Dr. David Pleasure, where she investigated the role of astrocytes in the rare pediatric leukodystrophy Canavan disease. During her doctoral work she helped develop a therapeutic strategy that effectively reversed leukodystrophy and motor function impairments in Canavan disease model mice. She also characterized cerebellar dysfunction and alterations to Bergmann glia calcium signaling in Canavan disease.
Dr. Casha came to UCLA in 2023 where she continues to study astrocyte-neuron interactions in rare neurological disease as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the laboratory of renowned glial biologist Dr. Baljit S. Khakh. In Dr. Khakh’s lab, Dr. Casha uses in vivo proteomic tools to map the protein composition of critical functional cellular subcompartments in Huntington’s disease (HD). Astrocytes and neurons of the striatum are particularly vulnerable in HD, for reasons not yet fully understood. Thus, Dr. Casha will explore the protein mediators of this cell type-specific susceptibility using multiple murine models for HD, with the goal of identifying biomarkers for tracking disease progression and novel therapeutic targets. She was recently awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Hereditary Disease Foundation to support her work in HD.
Dr. Flora D’Oliveira Da Silva is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned her Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology and Behavior from the University of Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France, where her research focused on the role of the nociceptin/orphanin FQ system in chronic stress-induced cognitive impairments. Dr. D’Oliveira Da Silva joined UCLA in 2023, initially working in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care before transitioning to Dr. Catherine Cahill’s lab in 2024.
Dr. Flora D’Oliveira Da Silva’s research focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms linking chronic pain, stress, and addiction. chronic pain, stress, and addiction. Her work aims to decipher how chronic pain-induced neuroadaptations in the central amygdala contribute to negative affect and altered reward processing. Specifically, she investigates the role of the dynorphin/kappa opioid receptor (KOR) system, which is upregulated in chronic pain states and has been implicated in anhedonia and stress-related psychiatric disorders.
This research is highly translational, with implications for understanding why some chronic pain patients develop opioid dependence/ psychiatric disorders while others do not. Her long-term goal is to establish an independent research program investigating pain-related neuroadaptations and their contribution to neuropsychiatric disorders.
Previous Scholars Include:
Valeria González Diaz, Ph.D. (09/01/2023 – 08/31/2024)
Ceazar Nave, Ph.D. (09/01/2023 – 08/31/2024)
Peyman Golshani, M.D., Ph.D. (10/01/2016 – 09/30/2019)
X. William Yang, M.D., Ph.D. (10/1/2011 – 09/30/2016)
Guoping Fan, Ph.D. (07/25/2008 – 07/24/2011)
Tyrone Cannon, Ph.D. (2006 – 2007)