Amanda McQuade

Amanda McQuade, PhD is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases within the School of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). She conducts research in the Kampmann Lab, specializing in neurodegenerative disease mechanisms with a focus on brain-resident immune cells.

Dr. McQuade earned her PhD in Biological Sciences from UC Irvine in 2021 and completed her B.A. in Neuroscience from Scripps College in 2016. Her educational background has positioned her at the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and advanced genetic technologies.

Her primary research investigates microglial behavior and its impact on neurodegenerative disease pathogenesis. Dr. McQuade employs CRISPRi/a technologies to identify key regulatory proteins affecting microglial disease responses, with particular focus on autism spectrum disorder risk genes and their relationship to microglial endocytosis and synaptic pruning. Her work bridges cellular neuroscience with innovative gene-editing approaches to uncover novel mechanisms in conditions including Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. McQuade's publication record demonstrates expertise across multiple domains including microglia biology, CRISPR screening technologies, and neurodegenerative disease mechanisms. Her recent work spans autism spectrum disorder research, Alzheimer's disease pathology, and extracellular vesicle proteomics, revealing connections between neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions.

She collaborates extensively with leading researchers including Martin Kampmann, Tomasz Nowakowski, and Brandon Holmes, reflecting her integration into the broader neuroscience research community across the University of California system. Her laboratory work involves advanced techniques including CRISPRi-based screening, coculture systems, and analysis of induced pluripotent stem cells.