Determinants of Neuronal Vulnerability in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Insights from Molecular Profiling and Genetic Screening in the CNS
Description
This is a Zoom seminar. Click here to join (MIT login required).
The mammalian central nervous system (CNS) is composed of hundreds of distinct cell types. In spite of extensive knowledge regarding the molecular basis of some aspects of differential cell type form and function, it is not yet well understood how molecular differences predispose particular neurons to differential vulnerability in the most common neurodegenerative diseases. In this seminar, I will discuss our recent efforts to characterize specific classes of CNS neurons at the molecular level, and to utilize this information to understand their function and dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease.
Speaker Bio
Myriam Heiman received a B.A. in molecular biology from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in cell biology from the Johns Hopkins University, where she studied signaling factors that regulate calcium uptake and the unfolded protein response in S. cerevisiae. She conducted her post-doctoral studies at the Rockefeller University with Dr. Paul Greengard and Dr. Nathaniel Heintz, investigating responses of striatal neurons to chronic cocaine administration and to models of Parkinson’s disease, and helping to develop the Translating Ribosome Affinity Purification (TRAP) methodology. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, a core member of the Broad Institute, and a member of the Picower Institute. At MIT, she has continued to use the TRAP methodology, as well as more recently single nuclear RNA-sequencing and new unbiased genetic screening techniques, to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the differential vulnerabilities of neurons in neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease.