Denise Allen

Denise Allen, PhD has extensive experience in research. Denise began their research career in 2012 as a High School Research Assistant at the J. David Gladstone Institutes, working with Dr. Li Gan and Dr. Grietje Krabbe, PhD to determine the effect of progranulin loss on microglia and peripheral macrophages. In 2013, they continued their research at the J. David Gladstone Institutes, working with Dr. Li Gan and Dr. Greitje Krabbe, PhD to characterize the microglia-like cells that repopulate the brain after the native microglial population is chemically depleted. In 2014, they were an Undergraduate Researcher at Stanford University, working with Dr. Phil Tsao and Dr. Anne Jagger, PhD to study how estrogen affects microRNA expression in macrophages to protect women from abdominal aortic aneurysms. Denise also worked as an Undergraduate Researcher at UCLA, working with Dr. William Lowry to use an isogenic iPSC model to study the impact of MECP2 mutations on interneurons in order to further elucidate the etiology of Rett Syndrome, and with Dr. Ellen Carpenter to demonstrate that the Reelin signaling pathway member Dab1 is alternatively spliced across mammary gland development. From 2017 to 2022, they were a Graduate Student Researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, working with Dr. Tomasz Nowakowski, PhD to use single cell RNA-sequencing and spatial transcriptomic approaches to study how different stem cell niches contribute to the developing neocortex, and demonstrating that each niche gives rise to spatially, morphologically, and molecularly distinct astrocyte populations (Allen et al., Science, 2022). Denise is currently a Senior Data Scientist at Ozette Technologies.

Denise Allen, PhD began their educational journey at the Crystal Springs Uplands School, where they attended from 2009 to 2013. Denise then went on to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating in 2017. During their time at UCLA, they also completed a Minor in Biomedical Research. Prior to their degree, they were enrolled at the University of California, San Francisco, where they studied Biomedical Sciences.