KATZ/MARTIN Research Scholar Awardees:
Lotje Dorothee de Witte, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry
Viviana Simon, MD, PhD, Professor, Microbiology and Medicine
TITLE: Dissecting the mechanisms driving microgliosis in primary human microglia cells
ABSTRACT: Emerging evidence suggests that microglial cells play a critical role in neurodegenerative disorders. An increased number of microglia cells (“microgliosis”) is observed in neurodegenerative disorders. The cause and clinical consequences of microgliosis remain, however, elusive. Our project will build on our findings that HIV infection leads to rapid expansion of primary microglial cells isolated from human postmortem brain tissues. By studying how HIV rewires microglia cells, we will gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms controlling microglia proliferation at the single cell level and create novel tools to study proliferation and clonal expansion of human microglia.
