VERTICES PREP Program

Sasha Manus was born in Davis, California, and raised in Oakland, California. She attended Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, with a minor in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies in the fall of 2022. As an undergraduate, Sasha served in numerous leadership roles, advocating for the rights of disabled students, with her work resulting in being awarded the Linda Heller Kamm ’61 Prize for Commitment to Social Justice in 2020.  Arriving to research late in her academic career, she discovered a passion for identifying the mechanisms behind human disease manifestations, with a specific focus on idiopathic neurological conditions and atypical presentations of genetic neurodegenerative diseases – with hopes of creating targeted therapeutics. Outside of the lab, Sasha is an active participant in disability rights advocacy – but, in her free time, she can often be found writing plays, devouring books, and exploring new places with her service dog, Keona.