UK Parkinson's Disease Consortium - UKPDC
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Public lecture: The autophagy signaling network, c-‐myc and pathology: don't mess with the cell cycle!
You are invited to a public lecture by Francesco Cecconi, an eminent scientist in the field of autophagy and neurodegeneration, on Thursday the 25th of April at 17:00, in the lecture theatre of 33 Queen Square, University College Hospital London, WC1N. The lecture will be followed by a general discussion with drinks and food. More...
Video: Brain Disease Research - Keeping You You
Have you ever wondered how scientists research the brain?
Have you wondered who digs through that beautiful mass of grey matter between
our ears to understand how it works and why it stops working? Meet the
Neurodegenerative Diseases Initiative. Funded by the Wellcome Trust and MRC, this
team of scientists from around the globe investigates Alzheimer's, Parkinson's
and Motor Neuron Diseases. The team is on the hunt for understanding and
treatments for brain diseases. More...
Video: Degenerating Brains public symposium
The "Degenerating Brains" public symposium was held on the 13th March 2013, as part of Brain Awareness Week. Around 250 people showed up to hear Professors John Hardy (UCL), Chris Shaw (KCL) and David Rubinsztein (Cambridge) discuss new discoveries in neurodegenerative diseases and how they might impact drug treatment. More...
Mutations in VCP gene implicated in a number of neurodegenerative diseases
New research, published in Neuron, gives insight into how single mutations in the VCP gene cause a range of neurological conditions including a form of dementia called Inclusion Body Myopathy, Paget’s Disease of the Bone and Frontotemporal Dementia (IBMPFD), and the motor neuron disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). More...
Public lectures: new research into Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Motor Neuron Disease
You are invited to an evening (13th March 2013) exploring the very latest in cutting edge research into neurodegenerative diseases. Supported by the Wellcome Trust, scientists investigating Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Motor Neuron disease will explain how our understanding of these disorders is changing in the light of new discoveries in genetics and cell biology, and how these discoveries impact on developing new drugs for these diseases.
18.00 Welcome and introduction
18.10 Lectures commence
More...
Molecular Neuropathology Group
Our current research focuses on understanding the normal biology and pathogenic properties of key molecules associated with familial forms of PD like LRRK2 and alpha-synuclein using our unique post-mortem human brain tissue resource at the Queen Square Brain Bank. We use a variety of approaches including cellular, immunohistochemical and biochemical techniques to understand the role of key proteins in PD pathogenesis. We hypothesize that LRRK2 can function as a protein kinase in vivo and that phosphorylation of certain key substrates is critical for mediating the downstream toxic properties of LRRK2 in neurodegeneration. Therefore one of our aims is to identify and validate in vivo phosphorylation targets of LRRK2 from our G2019S mutation cases.
In addition we are also investigating a possible role of LRRK2 in mRNA processes following up on recent publications that link this protein to mechanisms of translational control. We are focusing on the dynamics/function of the cytoplasmic RNA processing bodies called stress granules, that have been recently linked to pathogenic protein aggregation in neurodegeneration. We are utilising the LRRK2-IN-1 kinase inhibitor and LRRK2 constructs carrying disease-linked mutations to examine a role of the kinase activity in the subcellular localisation of LRRK2 under cellular stress.
Other aspects of our research are to investigate i) the properties of various alpha-synuclein alternatively spliced isoforms and ii) whether glucose metabolism is dysfunctional in PD.
Figure 1: Lewy bodies (black arrows) and Lewy neurites (white arrows) positive for phospho-alpha synuclein in a PD case. A) substantia nigra and B) cortex (cingulate gyrus).
Page last modified on 04 apr 11 10:00
