Risako Kimura (Graduate Student) is a PhD student in the Neurobiology and Behavior Program at Columbia University, where she is co-mentored by Dr. Hemali Phatnani and Dr. Ai Yamamoto. Her project seeks to understand the biophysical events that underlie sporadic ALS by modeling how alterations in macromolecular crowding may drive key ALS features such as TDP-43 aggregation and motor neuron degeneration. Prior to joining CGND, Risa worked with Dr. Vilhelm Bohr at the National Institutes of Health to study how DNA repair deficiencies contribute to aging and neurodegenerative phenotypes. Risa completed her BS in Neuroscience at Brown University.