Recommended Readings: Hugo Bellen, Ph.D., D.V.M.

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Olga Nilova

Friday Lecture Series

Mitochondria and Neurodegeneration

Hugo Bellen, Ph.D., D.V.M., investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute;

professor, departments of molecular and human

genetics and neuroscience, director, Program in Developmental Biology,

Baylor College of Medicine

March 30, 2012

3:45 p.m.-5:00 p.m. (Refreshments, 3:15 p.m., Abby Lounge)

Caspary Auditorium

Recommended Readings:

Bibliography

Han, S. M., H. Tsuda, Y. Yang, J. Vibbert, P. Cottee, S. -J Lee, J. Winek, C. Haueter, H. J. Bellen, and M. A. Miller. 2012. “Secreted VAPB/ALS8 Major Sperm Protein Domains Modulate Mitochondrial Localization and Morphology Via Growth Cone Guidance Receptors.” Developmental Cell 22 (2): 348-362

Pesah, Y., T. Pham, H. Burgess, B. Middlebrooks, P. Verstreken, Y. Zhou, M. Harding, H. Bellen, and G. Mardon. 2004. “Drosophila Parkin Mutants have Decreased Mass and Cell Size and Increased Sensitivity to Oxygen Radical Stress.” Development 131 (9): 2183-2194

Romero, E., G. -H Cha, P. Verstreken, C. V. Ly, R. E. Hughes, H. J. Bellen, and J. Botas. 2008. “Suppression of Neurodegeneration and Increased Neurotransmission Caused by Expanded Full-Length Huntingtin Accumulating in the Cytoplasm.” Neuron 57 (1): 27-40

Venken, K. J. T., Y. He, R. A. Hoskins, and H. J. Bellen. 2006. “P[Acman]: A BAC Transgenic Platform for Targeted Insertion of Large DNA Fragments in D. Melanogaster.” Science 314 (5806): 1747-1751

Verstreken, P., C. V. Ly, K. J. T. Venken, T. -W Koh, Y. Zhou, and H. J. Bellen. 2005. “Synaptic Mitochondria are Critical for Mobilization of Reserve Pool Vesicles at Drosophila Neuromuscular Junctions.” Neuron 47 (3): 365-378

A Fresh Look At The Validity Of Current Understanding Of Alzheimer’s Disease

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Carol Feltes

For decades the amyloid hypothesis has dominated the research field in Alzheimer’s disease. The theory describes how an increase in secreted beta-amyloid peptides leads to the formation of plaques, toxic clusters of damaged proteins between cells, which eventually result in neurodegeneration. Scientists at Lund University, Sweden, have now presented a study that turns this premise on its head. The research group’s data offers an opposite hypothesis, suggesting that it is in fact the neurons’ inability to secrete beta-amyloid that is at the heart of pathogenesis in Alzheimer’s disease. Read the report of their work in Journal of Neuroscience.

New Drug Target for Alzheimer’s, Stroke Discovered

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Carol Feltes

A tiny piece of a critical receptor that fuels the brain and without which sentient beings cannot live has been discovered by University at Buffalo scientists as a promising new drug target for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The research on the NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor was being published online in Nature Communications.

Scientists Spot New Clues to HIV-Linked Dementia

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Carol Feltes

Researchers have identified two genetically distinct types of HIV in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with HIV-associated dementia. The discovery may help explain why the risk of developing neurological difficulties increases as AIDS patients live longer, and may also help predict which patients are at greatest risk for the problem, according to the U.S. scientists. They said the two newly-identified HIV types aren’t being detected in HIV that circulates in a patient’s blood, and one type may be present cerebrospinal fluid years before the onset of HIV-linked dementia. The fact that the two HIV types can be detected in the CSF indicates that they grow in the central nervous system.

The study, which appears in the journal PLoS Pathogens, was led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

New Insights Into The Mechanism Of Parkinson’s Disease

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Carol Feltes

New research suggests that small “seed” amounts of diseased brain proteins can be taken up by healthy neurons and propagated within them to cause neurodegeneration. The research, published by Cell Press in the October 6, 2011 issue of the journal Neuron, sheds light on the mechanisms associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and provides a model for discovering early intervention therapeutics that can prevent or slow the devastating loss of neurons that underlies PD.

New Mechanism for Dementia?

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Carol Feltes

Hyperactive immune cells that engulf dying and injured cells before they have a chance to recover may contribute to neurodegeneration characteristic of some diseases, posing a previously unreported mechanism for dementia. Biochemists of the University of California, San Francisco found preliminary evidence for a different pathway of neurodegeneration — one that involves the clearance of apoptotic cells by overly active phagocytic immune cells, such as macrophages, leading to widespread cell loss over time. Read the full report of this research in PNAS.

Recommended Readings: Junying Yuan, Ph.D.

Posted on March 12, 2009 by layne

Special Seminar Series

A Quest to Understand the Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration

Junying Yuan, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Cell Biology

Harvard Medical School

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. (Refreshments, 3:45 p.m.)

Second Floor, Welch Hall

Recommended Articles:

Panaretakis T, Kepp O, Brockmeier U, Tesniere A, Bjorklund A-, Chapman DC, Durchschlag M, Joza N, Pierron G, van Endert P, Yuan J, Zitvogel L, Madeo F, Williams DB, Kroemer G. Mechanisms of pre-apoptotic calreticulin exposure in immunogenic cell death. EMBO Journal. 2009.

Yi CH, Yuan J. The jekyll and hyde functions of caspases. Developmental Cell. 2009;16(1):21-34.

Yuan J. Neuroprotective strategies targeting apoptotic and necrotic cell death for stroke. Apoptosis. 2009:1-9.
Article in press.

Hitomi J, Christofferson DE, Ng A, Yao J, Degterev A, Xavier RJ, Yuan J. Identification of a molecular signaling network that regulates a cellular necrotic cell death pathway. Cell. 2008;135(7):1311-23.

Zheng W, Degterev A, Hsu E, Yuan J, Yuan C. Structure-activity relationship study of a novel necroptosis inhibitor, necrostatin-7. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters. 2008;18(18):4932-5.

You Z, Savitz SI, Yang J, Degterev A, Yuan J, Cuny GD, Moskowitz MA, Whalen MJ. Necrostatin-1 reduces histopathology and improves functional outcome after controlled cortical impact in mice. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism 2008;28(9):1564-73.
Contact the Markus Library for a reprint of this article.

Degterev A, Hitomi J, Germscheid M, Ch’en IL, Korkina O, Teng X, Abbott D, Cuny GD, Yuan C, Wagner G, Hedrick SM, Gerber SA, Lugovskoy A, Yuan J. Identification of RIP1 kinase as a specific cellular target of necrostatins. Nature Chemical Biology. 2008;4(5):313-21.

Cuny GD, Degterev A, Yuan J. Necroptosis – A novel cell death mechanism. Drugs of the Future 2008;33(3):225-33.
Contact the Markus Library for a reprint of this article.

Degterev A, Boyce M, Yuan J. A decade of caspases. Oncogene. 2003;22(53 REV. ISS. 7):8543-67.

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