Grace Valentine Olagunju is a first-year PhD student at the New Mexico State University. She earned her undergraduate degree in biology with distinction from the University of Abuja, Nigeria, and completed her master’s degree with distinction in molecular biology and interdisciplinary life sciences. Olagunju’s research focuses on brain lipidomics, with a particular interest in understanding how lipid composition and alterations contribute to brain cancer, specifically glioblastoma. Olagunju is also a 2026 Neuronline Community Leader, contributing her scientific perspective, supporting collaboration, and engaging with diverse academic communities. She hopes to contribute to neuroscience education by increasing awareness of the importance of lipids in health and disease.

Dr. Spires-Jones is a Professor of Neurodegeneration, UK Dementia Research Institute Group Leader, and Director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at The University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on Alzheimer’s disease pathology, synaptic degeneration, and alterations in brain function associated with ageing and other neurodegenerative diseases. She received her doctorate in Neuroscience from The University of Oxford under the guidance of Professor Sir Colin Blakemore and Professor Anthony J Hannan. Dr. Spires-Jones was recently awarded the Prize for Ageing and Neuropathology Leading Researcher of the Year from Women in Neuroscience UK, recognized as the author of the most influential paper in the Alzheimer’s field for the previous 2 years through the Inge Grundke-Iqbal Award for Alzheimer’s Research, and was elected a Fellow of the UK National Academy of Medical Sciences.

Dr. Gage is a Professor in the Laboratory of Genetics at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Gage’s laboratory currently studies neurogenesis, modeling of various neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders, neuronal mosaicism and diversity, human evolution, and somatic retrotransposition. He received both his MS and PhD from Johns Hopkins University, where he also served as an NIMH Predoctoral Fellow. In 2024, Dr. Gage was recognized as the recipient of the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine and the Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize.