Ngan (Phoebe) Tran
Postdoctoral Scholar, Endocrinology and Metabolism
Bio
Ngan (Phoebe) Tran is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Translational Genomics of Diabetes Lab led by Dr. Anna Gloyn. She received her PhD in Clinical and Translational Science from Mayo Clinic, where she studied how mitochondrial genetics and dysfunction contribute to neurodegenerative diseases. Her doctoral research combined short- and novel long-read sequencing, clinical phenotyping, and functional approaches to investigate early-onset Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia, mitochondrial quality control, and mitochondrial variation across healthy brain aging.
She is broadly interested in how genetic variation shapes mitochondrial function and how these effects translate into cellular and disease phenotypes. In the Gloyn Lab, she is extending this interest into metabolic disease by integrating human genetics with functional and metabolic studies. Her long-term research interests lie at the intersection of mitochondrial biology, functional genomics, and translational medicine, with the goal of connecting human genetic discoveries to mechanisms that may ultimately inform therapeutic strategies.
Honors & Awards
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Diana Jacobs Kalman for Research in the Biology of Aging (1 of 20 awardees nationally), American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) (2025)
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Gateway to Mitochondrial Medicine Grant (1 of 9 awardees nationally), United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation (UMDF) (2024)
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Co-author, Top Viewed article in Aging Cell “NAD metabolism: Role in senescence and aging”, , (2025)
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Bruce Weir Summer in Statistics Travel Award, National Science Foundation (NSF) (2024)
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Dean’s Fellowship, Mayo Clinic (2021)
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Dr. Robert H. and Joanne C. Schaeffer Award for Excellence in the Life Sciences, Whitman College (2021)
Professional Education
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Doctor of Philosophy, Mayo Clinic, Clinical and Translational Science (2026)
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BA, Whitman College, Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology (2021)