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Principal Investigator
Dr. Alexander obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 2003. He later obtained his PhD in Genetics and Development at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas in the lab of Dr. Daniel Garry where he studied the functional roles of forkhead transcription factors in the regulation of muscle stem cells. In 2008 he joined the laboratory of Dr. Louis Kunkel (Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital) as a postdoctoral fellow where his work focused on the roles of epigenetic and genetic modifiers of human neuromuscular diseases with an emphasis on Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), myotonic dystrophy (DM), and Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD). Dr. Alexander also worked on generating novel zebrafish models of muscle diseases for the purposes of drug compound library screening. In 2013, Dr. Alexander was promoted to an Instructor in Pediatrics and Genetics and Genomics, and was appointed as an affiliate of the Stem Cell Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. In 2016, Dr. Alexander moved his laboratory to the Children’s Hospital of Alabama/University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) where he is an assistant professor in Pediatric Neurology. His laboratory focuses on identifying novel epigenetic and genetic regulators of human neuromuscular diseases and generating novel zebrafish models of disease for drug screening purposes.

Publications>>>

Michael is a pediatric neuromuscular physician-scientist. Michael is currently working in the lab under the mentorship of Drs. Matthew Alexander and Peter King. His current project involves characterizing the role of Smad8 as a potential regulator of muscle-enriched microRNAs in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Michael earned his medical degree from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan and completed child neurology residency at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. Afterwards, Michael did one year of clinical fellowship in neuromuscular medicine (pediatric track) at Stanford University. Additionally, Michael received his Ph.D. in Structural and Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Michael’s clinical interests include muscular dystrophies, congenital myopathies, neuromuscular junction disorders, spinal muscular atrophy, and acquired/inherited polyneuropathies. His research interests are in understanding the pathophysiology of muscular dystrophy, with a two-part goal of uncovering novel treatment options and applying this understanding to muscle diseases more broadly.

Fun fact: Michael has lived in eight different U.S. states/territories.

Dr. Muthukumar Karuppasamy (Muthu) is a postdoctoral fellow in the Alexander Neuromuscular Disease Research Lab in 2022. Muthu is interested in investigating the molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways associated with neuromuscular diseases, especially Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), and the exploration of small molecules in the treatment of DMD and other neuromuscular diseases. He completed his Bachelors in Pharmacy at RVS College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Coimbatore, India) and his Masters in Medicinal Chemistry from the Birla Institute of Technology (Ranchi, India). Later, Muthu moved to Singapore to pursue his Ph.D. focusing on drug discovery of neuroprotectants in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. After the completion of his Doctorate at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2018, Muthu worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the neuropharmacology projects at UAB (2018 – 2019). In 2020, he worked as a research consultant for pharma/biotech clients in the formulation sciences and drug discovery projects (2020 – 2022). In addition, he was involved in various domains of research institutions and pharma/biotech industries in India and abroad for more than 5 years. In his free time, Muthu enjoys participating in community services, marathons, spending time with his daughters and playing cricket.

Adrienne Samani is a Ph.D. graduate student in Dr. Alexander’s laboratory. Adrienne is originally from Miami, Florida where she received her Bachelor of Science at Florida International University. She became interested in studying skeletal muscle during her research training at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in the lab of Dr. Jason Doles where she studied the effects of microenvironment on muscle stem cells. Adrienne was awarded a UAB Blazer Fellowship upon enrolling at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in June 2018. Adrienne’s dissertation research focuses on the role of DOCK proteins on muscle function and disease. When Adrienne is not in lab, she is passionate about promoting diversity in the science community and influencing public policy to improve education in the STEM community. 

Katherine English is a Ph.D. graduate student in Dr. Alexander’s laboratory. Katherine is originally from Paducah, Kentucky. In 2019, Katherine participated in the Summer Program in Neuroscience at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the lab of Dr. John Shacka where she fell in love with research. She received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Evansville in 2020. She then returned to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for the Graduate Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program in 2020 and she joined the Alexander lab in the Spring of 2021. Her research in the Alexander Lab focuses on the role of DOCK7 in skeletal muscle. When Katherine is not in the lab she enjoys hiking, rescuing animals, and is passionate about developmental disorders.

Colin Siler is a Researcher III in Dr. Alexander’s laboratory. Colin spent his childhood across the United States in a military family. In 2016, He received his Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. After working for a few years, Colin decided to return to the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he earned his Master of Science in Biotechnology in the Summer of 2021. Colin worked as a laboratory assistant in the UAB Biotechnology program under Dr. Tino Unlap before joining the Alexander Lab in December 2021. When he is not working, Colin enjoys playing soccer, dancing, and exploring novel carbon capture strategies.