Dan Summers has been promoted to Associate Professor effective July 1, 2026. Dr. Summers joined the Department of Biology in 2019. His research seeks to find treatments for individuals affected by neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and peripheral neuropathies. Our nervous system controls every aspect of how we perceive and react to the world around us. To accomplish this incredible task, neurons establish connections throughout the human body, extending long projections called axons that can reach over a meter in length. Axons carry out many basic biological functions such as protein synthesis, transport, and degradation. Unfortunately, axon degeneration is a prominent event in many neurodegenerative disorders. To better understand neuronal function and identify therapeutic approaches for neurodegeneration, the Summers Lab studies the neuronal pathways responsible for protein homeostasis with a particular focus on axon biology to discover how this unique subcellular compartment operates and declines in aging or disease. His lab uses a combination of biochemistry, live imaging, primary neuron, and animal models to address this problem.

Dr. Summers received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and his Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He then went to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis as a postdoctoral research scholar and staff scientist before joining the Department of Biology at the University of Iowa. Courses he has taught at UI include Writing in Natural Sciences, Cell Biology, and the most recently developed Cell Biology of the Nervous System. Dr. Summers is Co-Director of the Neuroscience undergraduate program and is a member of the Iowa Neuroscience Institute.

Congratulations Dr. Summers!