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Research Spotlight – Teru Nakagawa and Chuck Sanders

Posted by daviskd2 on Friday, May 5, 2017 in News.

Nakagawa receives grant

CSB Researcher , Ph.D., has received a two-year grant to continue his studies of the molecular keystones of autism and other brain disorders. He is one of 40 scientists to receive from the foundation formerly known as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.

The NARSAD grant will support studies of GSG1L, a membrane protein and component of the AMPA receptor that was discovered in Dr. Nakagawa’s laboratory in 2012, and which has been linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). His research may lead to the development of novel drugs to treat ASD and other brain disorders.

Read the complete article online at site.

Sanders Lab research may aid in treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

CSB Investigator , Ph.D., and former ×ÔοÊÓƵ graduate student, Catherine Deatherage, Ph.D., are leading a research team to solve the molecular structure of the corresponding region of Notch protein, to look for differences that might guide the development of selective inhibitors of gamma-secretase action.

Their research, reported in , suggests that the way the Notch region is shaped and the way it interacts with the membrane is distinctly different from APP and, in contrast to APP, the Notch region does not bind cholesterol. The findings provide hope that it might be possible to develop compounds that selectively interact with either of the proteins and/or with gamma-secretase in a way that inhibits the APP pathway but leaves the Notch pathway alone.

Deatherage is now a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University. Other ×ÔοÊÓƵ investigators who contributed to the research included Zhenwei Lu, Ph.D., Brett Kroncke, Ph.D., Sirui Ma, Jarrod Smith, Ph.D., and Markus Voehler, Ph.D.

Read the complete article online at site.