Dr. Sandau is an Instructor within the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine. She also serves as the Americas’ Representative to the Scientific Reproducibility Subcommittee and Co-Chair for the Cerebrospinal Fluid Task Force within the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles. She joined the department in February of 2017 as a Senior Research Associate in Dr. Julie Saugstad’s laboratory. She earned her B.S., a double major in Genetics and Medical Microbiology & Immunology, from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 1998. She then attended Colorado State University and earned her PhD in the field of Biomedical Neurosciences in 2006 and completed her postdoctoral training at the Oregon National Primate Research Center.

As a faculty member within APOM, Dr. Sandau’s research program is focused on establishing the role of extracellular vesicle microRNAs in Alzheimer’s disease pathology within the human brain. In collaboration with the Oregon Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Neuropathology Core at OHSU, she examines the interaction of apolipoprotein E genotype and sex on microRNA expression levels within brain extracellular vesicles and their relationship to amyloid and tau lesions. Dr. Sandau also continues to work with Dr. Saugstad on projects aimed to identify circulating microRNAs as disease specific biomarkers for patients for Alzheimer’s disease.