Sarah Catherine Baker joined the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine as a Graduate Student in the Saugstad laboratory in April 2020. She earned her B.S in Biological Sciences, as well as a supplementary degree in English Literature, from the University of Notre Dame in 2018. She next pursued an M.S. in Global Health from Trinity College Dublin, and graduated in September 2019. She began her PhD at OHSU in the Program of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and later joined the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

In the Saugstad lab, Sarah Cate is exploring the role of extracellular vesicles in neurodegenerative disease. By exploring their protein, lipid, and microRNA content, she is hoping to better understand how extracellular vesicles are altered by neurodegeneration, and whether they contribute to disease pathology. In addition to working on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, Sarah Cate is also applying the lab’s expertise to Niemann Pick’s Disease Type C, a rare form of neurodegeneration that primarily affects children.