The role of intracellular transport and protein aggregation during neuronal ageing.

Alessio Vagnoni (primary)
Basic and Clinical Neuroscience
King's College London
Chris Shaw (secondary)
Basic and Clinical Neuroscience
King's College London

Abstract

Proper distribution of proteins and organelles is essential for maintaining neuronal structure and function. It has been suggested that reduced transport in axons of neurons contributes to the broader decline of cellular homeostasis that occurs during ageing. Although upregulation of transport appears to be beneficial in ageing neurons, it is still unknown how modulation of this process mechanistically affects ageing phenotypes, for instance the appearance of protein aggregates. The successful candidate will combine new methods in Drosophila melanogaster with the use of stem cell technology to study the link between axonal transport and protein aggregation in vivo and in vitro.


References

1. Vagnoni A. (corresponding author and lead contact), Bullock S.L. (2018) A cAMP/PKA/Kinesin-1 Axis Promotes the Axonal Transport of Mitochondria in Ageing Drosophila Neurons. Current Biology. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.02.048
2. Vagnoni A. (corresponding author), Bullock S.L. (2016) A simple method for imaging axonal transport in ageing neurons using the adult Drosophila wing. Nature Protocols, 11:1711-1723.
3. Vagnoni A., Hoffmann P.C., Bullock S.L. (2016) Reducing Lissencephaly-1 levels augments mitochondrial transport and has a protective effect in adult Drosophila neurons. Journal of Cell Science, 129:178-190
4. Nishimura AL, Scotter EL, Abdelgany A, Wright J, Lee Y-B, Shum C, Chen H-J, Bilican B, Carrasco M, Maniatis T, Rogelj B, Chandran S, Gallo J-M, Shaw CE Allele-specific knockdown of ALS-associated mutant TDP-43 in neural stem cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. PLoS One 2014 Mar 20;9(3):e91269.
5. Scotter EL, Vance C, Nishimura AL, Lee YB, Chen HJ, Urwin H, Sardone V, Mitchell JC, Rogelj B, Rubinsztein DC, Shaw CE. Differential roles of the ubiquitin proteasome system and autophagy in the clearance of soluble and aggregated TDP-43 species J Cell Sci. 2014 Mar 15;127(Pt 6):1263-78.


BBSRC Area
Genes, development and STEM* approaches to biology
Area of Biology
AgeingCell BiologyNeurobiology
Techniques & Approaches
BiochemistryGeneticsImage ProcessingMathematics / StatisticsMicroscopy / ElectrophysiologyMolecular Biology