Our Team

Principal investigator

Matthew R. Brier, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Neurology, Neuroimmunology

Email: brierm@nospam.wustl.edu

Matthew Brier grew up in a suburb of Dallas, Texas and completed his undergraduate degree in neuroscience at the University of Texas at Dallas. He then moved to St. Louis and completed his MD and PhD at Washington University in St. Louis. He completed residency training, including a year as administrative chief resident, at Barnes Jewish Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis. He completed a year of sub-specialty training in MS and joined the faculty in 2021.

Clinical profile

Personnel

Karl Friedrichsen, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Scholar

Karl joined the lab in 2023 but he is no stranger to the NIL-RC. He completed his post-baccalaureate work in the Benzinger lab and then completed his PhD at WashU. After graduating, he joined the Brier lab and is interested in advancing the use of PET for the study of neurological diseases.

Furqan Dar, PhD

Postdoc Research Associate

Furqan Dar received his BA in Physics from Kenyon College in 2016. He then went on to receive his PhD in Physics from Washington University in St. Louis in 2022 investigating biomolecular condensates using a combination of computational and analytical techniques. Following his PhD, he continued in his graduate lab as a post doctoral researcher. Dar then joined the Brier Lab where he is focusing on developing a streamlined PET processing package, and using it as a platform to advance multi-modal neurological imaging.

Bradley Judge, BS

Neuroimaging Research Technician II

Bradley joined the lab in 2023 after receiving his undergraduate in Neuroscience (minor in Computing) from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Brad is instrumental in the development and maintenance of the lab’s analytic infrastructure and assists with the processing and analysis of multimodal imaging data. He enjoys sailing, hiking, and has recently joined the pickleball craze.

Nicole Shelley, MS

Neuro Imaging Research Technician II

Nicole graduated from UMSL with a Master’s in Behavioral Neuroscience in 2023. During this time, she has been trained in several statistical methods as well as the operation of the Tobii TX300 eye-tracker. She developed an interest and started researching brain damage and the effects thereof in 2019 and have used this passion and the knowledge developed to add to the greater sum of neuroscience literature. Nicole is happy to be working for the NIL to explore relationships between multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.

Amjad Samara, MD

Neurology resident

Amjad is an adult neurology resident at Washington University in St Louis. He graduated fram An-Najah National University School of Medicine in Nablus, Palestine and completed an NIH T32 postdoctoral fellowship in the Neuroimaging Labs/WashU. He is interested in neuroimaging and neuroimmunology. His research interests particularly focus on using advanced neuroimaging techniques to investigate the pathology and progression of multiple sclerosis. In his free time, Amjad enjoys playing and watching soccer, experimenting with photography, watching movies, listening to classical music, and cooking.

John Paul (JP) Pineda

Undergraduate student

John Paul (JP) Pineda is from the island of Guam. He is a Sophomore majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics with a goal of applying computer skills to help further improve the understanding of neuroimaging models. He eventually wants to attend graduate school and join the workforce in tech. An interesting fact about JP is that he was in a Korean variety show over the past summer (2023) that featured Korean celebrities and he got to try out delicious food at a pop-up restaurant!