2026 Outstanding Student Achievement Awards: PhD Research Category
Meagan V. Lauber
PhD in Computational Neuroscience
Lauber matriculated into the Graduate Program for Neuroscience (GPN) in 2021 and successfully defended her dissertation in March 2026. During her time in GPN, her research revolved around using machine learning and artificial intelligence to study Alzheimer’s disease, with the goal of advancing precision medicine approaches.
Lauber’s main project uses a pioneering machine learning and computational neuroscience modeling approach to quantify how amyloid burden influences the emergence and efficiency of tau spreading. Amyloid burden is the first pathology to occur in Alzheimer’s disease, while tau is the second pathology that causes cognitive decline and widespread damage.
“For a long time, we’ve known that there is this synergistic relationship between the two pathologies,” Lauber said. “But a lot of this evidence came from mice or cells. This was the first time, quantitatively, that we have shown in living human brain scans that this suspected mechanism is in action.”
While many neuroimaging studies have small sample sizes, Lauber’s project used data from over 800 patients. This project was the first large-scale and quantitative confirmation in humans that tau becomes more efficient in the presence of a higher whole brain amyloid burden.
Lauber’s drive to study neurodegenerative disease is personal. As a teenager, Lauber’s maternal grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and witnessing her mother act as a primary caregiver motivated Lauber to work in this area. Several years later as an undergraduate student, Lauber began researching neurodegenerative movement disorders, an interest sparked by her paternal grandmother experiencing polio-associated neurodegeneration as she aged. At the time, Lauber felt keenly aware that she herself was the same age her grandmother had been when she was infected with polio from a tainted batch of vaccines and spent months in an iron lung, becoming a survivor of what would be known as the 1955 Cutter Incident. The incident is considered one of the worst public health disasters in the US pharmaceutical industry.
“My passion as a researcher has been fundamentally shaped by these first-hand experiences of the impact on patients and their families, which only further motivated me to bridge the gap between disease biology and public health impact,” Lauber said. “Starting my PhD, I felt very motivated to see so much happening in terms of Alzheimer’s innovation, even compared to 10 years ago when my grandmother was going through her dementia diagnosis and treatment.”
Lauber hopes to continue her work using this model and its applications to ongoing Alzheimer’s clinical efforts to intervene early and preserve as much brain health as possible. The model is also applicable to any tau-driven disease, such as frontotemporal dementia, Down syndrome and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Lauber feels grateful for open data sharing initiatives, both at BU and in general, that have continued to shape her research.
As Lauber advances into the next stage of her career, she urges women entering STEM spaces to recognize the value of their voices and their right to take up space.
“Don’t doubt your right to be in that room,” Lauber said. “Don’t doubt your right to belong there, and don’t doubt the worth of your perspective.”
Read about our other Outstanding Student Achievement Award winners here!