| Abstract: | ["Swethas studies on the cell biology of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer\u2019s Disease led to the discovery of an unexpected heterogeneity of neuronal lysosomes: unlike lysosomes in neuronal cell bodies, those in neurites are deficient in luminal proteases and thus lack degradative capacity. Her lab is now trying to understand how these distinct lysosomal pools form, interact and function in the different parts of the neuron and how their dysfunction causes and\/or exacerbates neurodegenerative diseases. For this they use high resolution imaging, proteomics and CRISPR Cas9-mediated perturbation in primary mouse neurons and IPSC-derived neurons. This should help to identify the defining molecular composition of these distinct lysosomal populations, the factors that uniquely (or differentially) regulate them and the molecular basis for their differential responses to stresses."] |
