Dr. Albert La Spada's research is focused upon neurodegenerative disease. His lab is seeking the molecular events that underlie neurodegeneration and neuron cell death in spinocerebellar ataxia type 7, spinal & bulbar muscular atrophy, Huntington’s Disease, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer's disease. His team has uncovered evidence for transcription dysregulation, perturbed bioenergetics, and altered protein quality control as contributing factors to neuron dysfunction. By reproducing molecular pathology in mice and in neurons, astrocytes, microglia, and skeletal muscle cells derived from human patient stem cells, his lab has begun to develop therapies to treat these disorders.
Key Research Areas:
Neurodegeneration, neurotherapeutics, neurogenetics, translational neuroscience
