June 14, 2017
The Kraemer Lab in the UW Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine and the VA Puget Sound Health Care System focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the protein pathologies that lead to symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and/or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His group has received new funding from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) for a project to study the role of the tau protein in Alzheimer's disease, using a variety of model organisms, including mouse, C. elegans worm, and human cell models of tau toxicity.***
Specifically, the grant allows the team to extend previous research demonstrating that the gene sut- 2/MSUT2 controls tau aggregation and toxicity in C. elegans worm and human cell models, and therefore determines a cell's vulnerability to tau pathology. The team aims to understand how MSUT2 controls tau pathology in living organisms, at a deeper level of biological detail. This knowledge may provide a novel candidate therapeutic target for pharmacological intervention, a key goal of the UW ADRC.
***To learn more, see the summary of Dr. Kraemer's Toward Precision Medicine Symposium talk MSUT2: a novel therapeutic target for Alzheimer’s Disease (PDF)
- Read about the Kraemer Lab's work in In a Worm, the Kraemer Lab Studies the Early Signs of Human Brain Disease