Tara Tracy is currently working as assistant professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Her lab will focus on the deterioration of synapses, the specialized structures critical for the transmission of information between neurons in the brain, as it relates to Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. Her ultimate goal is to establish a foundation for new treatment strategies to restore synaptic function and improve cognition at the early stages of disease progression.

Tracy holds a PhD in neuroscience from the University of California, Berkeley. She became a research scientist at the Gladstone Institute following postdoctoral training there. She was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Aging and a BrightFocus Foundation Fellowship for her postdoctoral research to uncover mechanisms that promote memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease.