Dissecting Innate Immunity at Organelle Contact Sites in Brain Aging
Inflammation is a central risk factor in aging and age-related diseases. “Inflammaging” is driven by age-associated stressors inside cells, which can trigger the cGAS-STING signaling pathway and activate the innate immune system. Understanding and controlling the activity of the cGAS-STING signaling pathway offers a path to reduce harmful effects of inflammaging, including in the aging brain, where neuroinflammation contributes to memory loss, cognitive and motor decline, and neurodegeneration. However, little is known about the activity of cGAS-STING signaling in different brain cell types, or how neuroinflammatory cGAS-STING signaling contributes to brain cell aging and senescence. Dr. Peret’s research will combine cutting-edge techniques from protein engineering, microscopy, and neuroscience to enable monitoring cGAS-STING signaling in aging brain cells. These new technologies will reveal the connections between cGAS-STING neuroinflammatory signaling and cell stressors, such as organelle dysfunction, in aging brain cells. This research promises greater understanding of the drivers of neuroinflammation and inflammaging.
