Nearly one million people in the United States are living with Parkinson’s disease, making it the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s. Current medical treatments for Parkinson’s are focused on helping people manage symptoms. But the underlying mechanisms of the neurological disorder remain poorly understood.
Tamily Weissman, associate professor of biology and department chair, is working to change that. Parkinson’s symptoms occur because of a drop in dopamine levels when certain brain cells die. Scientists know that abnormal clumping of certain proteins inside key neurons is involved; however, the exact mechanisms are unclear.
Something is causing these proteins to bind together and form aggregates. And we don’t yet understand what that mechanism does to cells or why the cells are dying.”
Tamily Weissman, associate professor of biology
Similar protein aggregation is associated with other neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Huntington’s disease. A better understanding of these protein clumps, known as Lewy Bodies, could lead to breakthrough discoveries and open up new paths to treatment.
Using zebrafish models
Weissman’s work is focused on alpha-synuclein, the abnormally clumping protein found in the brains of Parkinson’s patients. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding her innovative approach, which examines how this protein behaves in zebrafish models. She and her team are looking at the factors surrounding the phosphorylation at a protein