Dr. Harpreet Sidhu

Dr. Harpreet Sidhu

Head of Molecular Biology

Dr. Sidhu obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and her Doctorate degree in Neuroscience from the University of California, Riverside. During her doctorate training, Dr. Sidhu explored the pathology of several neurological disorders, focusing on Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), specifically the role of matrix metalloproteinase 9 in the pathophysiology of FXS. Her other focus involved Alzheimer’s disease. She investigated the role of Notch protein in angiogenesis and how angiogenesis affects the progression of Alzheimer’s disease using HUVEC cells in vitro and in a zebrafish model. After completing her PhD, Dr. Sidhu did her first postdoctoral stint at the same institute and continued working on FXS, looking at auditory deficits in the mouse model of FXS. Her second postdoctoral position was at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla where she studied alcohol addiction, focusing on the molecular mechanisms underlying the switch from social drinking to dependence and also the behavioral outputs of anxiety and irritability during withdrawal from alcohol in a rodent model.