Wenzhu Qi
Advisor's Name:
Jean-Christophe Rochet
Email Address:
Training Group:
Integrative Neuroscience
Research Summary:
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder for which there are no disease-modifying treatments. Neuropathological hallmarks of PD include the loss of dopaminergic neurons and the formation of cytoplasmic inclusions enriched with aggregated forms of the presynaptic protein alpha-synuclein (aSyn), known as Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites. Although dopaminergic therapies remain the gold standard in PD treatment, current therapeutic approaches only provide symptomatic relief and cannot reverse the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. Accordingly, there is a high demand for identifying new agents that could serve as disease-modifying therapies. Misfolded aSyn can propagate from cell to cell, and widespread deposition of aSyn aggregates is observed in PD brains. aSyn oligomers and aggregates are toxic, inducing mitochondrial dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and impairment of the autophagy-lysosomal pathway (ALP), ultimately resulting in neuronal death. We are working on cellular models with aSyn aggregate-induced neuropathology, which are critical for understanding the formation and spread of aggregates and testing the efficacy of drugs in rescuing disrupted cellular pathways.
Why did you choose to attend PULSe:
PULSe is an Interdisciplinary program which allows me to rotate in 4 labs in the first year. This is so nice if you are not an expert in biology and want to determine which field you'd like to spend the 5 year PhD study in.