Karen Strauss Cook Research Scholar Awardees:
Ana Pereira, MD - Assistant Professor, Neurology
John F Crary, MD, PhD - Professor, Pathology
RESEARCH:
TITLE: Single cell mapping of tau pathology in the degenerating
human brain
ABSTRACT: Tau pathology characterizes a spectrum of “tauopathies”. There is a critical need to better understand the association between neuropathology in these disorders and molecular mechanisms regulating cell death. We will perform single-cell RNA sequencing and multiplex immunofluorescence microscopy across tauopathies, generating a catalog of abnormal cellular signatures. Then, we will make personalized iPSC-derived cellular models from the same donors, enabling mechanistic validation in a cell-type specific manner. The study will identify potential divergent and convergent mechanisms of tau-mediated neurodegeneration in human brain tissues from our unique dataset of single-cell transcriptomic signatures.
