Sami Barmada

Sami Barmada is an Associate Professor of Neurology and the Angela Dobson and Lyndon Welch Research Professor at the University of Michigan Medical School, where he also directs the Brain Bank. His research focuses on molecular mechanisms underlying amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), with particular emphasis on RNA stability, RNA-binding proteins, and neurodegeneration pathways.

His laboratory employs an interdisciplinary approach combining automated fluorescence microscopy, computer science, genome engineering, and bioinformatics to investigate protein and RNA metabolism in neurodegenerative diseases. Research interests span TDP-43 pathology, stress granule dynamics, autophagy, and repeat expansion disorders, with the goal of identifying therapeutic targets for ALS/FTD. The lab utilizes human neuron models and high-content screening to dissect disease mechanisms.

Analysis of recent publications reveals strong focus on TDP-43 autoregulation, RAN translation mechanisms, nuclear transport defects, and sex-specific clinical phenotypes in FTD. Key themes include RNA processing abnormalities, protein quality control failures, and the role of nucleocytoplasmic transport deficits in neurodegeneration.

Barmada actively participates in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, having completed MORE Mentor Training, Implicit Bias Training, Anti-Racism Training, and Gender Bias Training. His lab explicitly celebrates diversity as fundamental to scientific progress.

The Barmada Lab comprises postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, technicians, research specialists, software engineers, and undergraduates working collaboratively in the A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Sciences Research Building. The team emphasizes real-time visualization of neurodegeneration to distinguish causal disease mechanisms from secondary effects.