Insights into Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases from genetic approaches

Jie Shen Ph.D., Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School The major research interests of the Shen laboratory focus on elucidation of the pathogenic mechanisms of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Specifically, a multidisciplinary approach is employed to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying pathologic degeneration of specific neuronal populations. 1) Xia et al. Presenilin-1 knockin mice reveal loss-of-function mechanism for familial Alzheimer’s disease. Neuron 2015, 85: 967-81. 2) Kang et al. An Evolutionarily conserved role of Presenilin in neuronal protection in the aging Drosophila brain. Genetics 2017, 206: 1479-93. 3) Giaime E et al. Age-dependent dopaminergic neurodegeneration and impairment of the autophagy-lysosomal pathway in LRRK-deficient mice. Neuron 2017, 96:796-807.