Dr. Efrat Levy

Biography

Efrat Levy is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at New York University. Her research focuses on molecular, cellular, and translational neuroscience, particularly in relation to Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. In her laboratory, she investigates the factors that initiate and propagate the pathology of these disorders using a multidisciplinary approach. Recent studies in her lab have centered on vesicular trafficking, facilitating the development of models and methods to examine the role of extracellular vesicles in both protective and pathogenic capacities within the brain. Levy's work has highlighted the elimination of cytotoxic materials via extracellular vesicles and the spread of toxic materials in the central nervous system as significant contributors to the development of neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, she has found that human and mouse brain extracellular vesicles are enriched with carboxyl-terminal fragments of amyloid beta precursor protein (APP), providing insights into the neurotoxic pathways that characterize Alzheimer’s disease.

Research Interests