RESEARCH

Project 1: Cerebral cortical dysfunction in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is defined by the progressive degeneration of midbrain dopamine-producing cells. Loss of these cells as well as their modulation of brain function tremendously affect how the brain regulates motor activity and cognition of human, leading to the manifestation of the feature parkinsonian symptoms, including the slowness, or even the absence, of motor activities. The research in our lab aims to understand how loss of midbrain dopamine-producing cells impacts normal function of the cerebral cortex, which in turn contributes to numerous aspects of motor and nonmotor defects in parkinsonism. 

This work is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP)/Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF), and the Parkinson's Foundation.  

The following work summarizes our recent findings from this project.

Project 2: Alpha-synuclein, neural circuits, and  Parkinson's disease

Many people with Parkinson's disease (PD) show abnormal accumulation of Lewy pathology in their brain. Lewy pathology has been considered as the pathological hallmark of PD. The small molecule protein, alpha-synculein, is the major proteinaceous component  of Lewy-like aggregates. This project aims to understand what the pathologic alpha-synuclein aggregates do to cells and their connections. This study focuses on the functional impact of alpha-synuclein aggregation on limbic circuit function as well as its implication to the manifestation of nonmotor deficits in people with PD, like emotion dysregulation and cognitive deficits.

This work is supported by the BBRF NARSAD Young Investigator award (2021) and a research grant from the Department of Defense's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP).  

The following work summarizes our recent findings from this project.

Research Funding Supports