In her current role as Managing Director of the NeuroNetwork for Emerging Therapies, Dr. Jacoby’s responsibilities include supporting the operation of the organization and managing scientific programs and communications.
Dr. Jacoby received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology & Genetics in 2006 from Wayne State University in Detroit, where her graduate research training focused on the biochemical characterization and analysis of post-translational modifications of proteins involved in serotonin biosynthesis. She then joined the laboratory of Dr. Eva Feldman at the University of Michigan as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2006, and advanced to Research Investigator in 2011. In the Feldman laboratory, her research was focused on understanding the mechanisms of motor neuron degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and examining the neuroprotective mechanisms of growth factor therapies using primary cellular models of ALS. She also developed and utilized zebrafish models of ALS to examine and investigate disease onset and progression. Dr. Jacoby served as Deputy Managing Director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute at the University of Michigan from 2011 to 2017, and returned to the NeuroNetwork for Emerging Therapies (formerly Program for Neurology Research & Discovery) as Managing Director in January 2018. Dr. Jacoby (Sakowski) is the author/co-author of more than 30 manuscripts.