Arieh Moussaieff, PhD

Exploring the role and regulation of phospholipids in the AD brain.

The brain is rich in lipids, and strong evidence for membrane lipid defects in AD brains has accumulated for over two decades. Membrane lipids provide the environment for protein interactions, trafficking and function; and their alterations may lead to and exacerbate the rate of pathologies, such as AD. A large volume of literature links shifts in the content of phospholipids (PLs) to neurodegeneration and specifically to AD. Dr. Moussaieff plans to map the metabolic shifts in the phospholipid network and decipher the regulation of PLs in the contexts of AD pathology; evaluate the expression changes in enzymes that are responsible for these metabolic shifts; and use RNA-sequencing in search for potential associations between changes in ncRNAs, the observed effect on PL metabolism as well as the neuropathology and/or cognitive decline in AD. Finally, he will manipulate the expression levels of ncRNA candidate genes to be identified in neuroblastoma and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-derived neurons, aiming to discover the mechanism of action and the novel routes for these AD metabolic shifts and possibly validate novel targets for therapeutic interference.