David Li-Kroeger
Baylor College of Medicine, TX·Neuroscience·Early-career
As Alzheimer's disease (AD) advances, the levels of many brain proteins change together. Which of these changes actually drive the disease?
- Fields
Neuroscience
Genetics
Biology
- Topics
Alzheimer's disease
neurodegeneration
M42 protein network
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2027
What they work on
- Determine the function of SMOC1, a predicted driver protein of the Alzheimer's-associated M42 protein network, in the adult brain, using genetic studies in the fruit fly Drosophila.
- Test how SMOC1 modulates TGFβ and Wnt/β-catenin signaling, two pathways that control cell communication, and how this contributes to Alzheimer's pathology.
- Use systems biology analysis of proteomic data to dissect how the M42 network behaves when key connected proteins are perturbed.
- Apply cross-species approaches to link other M42 network proteins to specific Alzheimer's pathological triggers and nominate them as therapeutic targets.
More about the research
Large-scale measurements of proteins in AD patients have identified a connected group of proteins, called the M42 network. Its levels track closely with brain damage and with declining memory and thinking. Knowing what these proteins do in the brain could point to new ways to slow AD.
Why it matters
People with Alzheimer's disease currently have few effective treatments. By showing what SMOC1 and its partner proteins in the M42 network do in the brain, and which disease triggers they respond to, this work could identify new drug targets. It could also support SMOC1 as a biomarker for tracking disease, guiding future studies in mammalian models of Alzheimer's.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jin Jiang
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Biology
Determine how different levels or durations of Hedgehog signal produce different outcomes inside cells, combining genetics, biochemistry, biophysics and cell biology in Drosophila and mammalian cells.
Ravi Allada
University of Michigan, MI·Neuroscience
Map sleep- and wake-dependent changes in gene activity in the Drosophila brain at single-cell resolution, using single-cell RNA sequencing to find the cells and genes that track sleep need.
Hiroshi Nakato
University of Minnesota, MN·Genetics
Determine how septate junction components, which seal neighboring gut cells together, help end regeneration in the Drosophila midgut after intestinal stem cells repair damage.
The school
Baylor College of Medicine: 38 labs on PI Pages, $881M a year on research, 115 research doctorates a year.
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