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Photo of Gowrishankar, Swetha

Swetha Gowrishankar, PhD

Assistant Professor

Mentor, Biological Mechanisms

Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology

Contact

Building & Room:

COMRB 7055

Office Phone:

312-996-6612

Lab

Building & Room:

COMRB 7068

Related Sites:

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Interrogating the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal lysosome formation during health and disease states with a specific focus on neurodegenerative diseases

About

Lysosomes are degradative organelles, whose function is critical for protecting long-lived cells such as neurons from the build up of misfolded proteins and damaged organelles. Altered lysosome function is associated with numerous neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease and hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their involvement are not known. My post doctoral work investigating the cell biology of amyloid plaques in AD led to the discovery of an unexpected heterogeneity of neuronal lysosomes: unlike lysosomes in neuronal cell bodies, those in neurites are deficient in luminal proteases and thus lack degradative capacity. Furthermore, I found that perturbing transport (and maturation) of the axonal pool specifically exacerbated Alzheimer's plaque pathology.

The goal of my laboratory is to now understand how these distinct lysosomal pools form, interact and function in the different parts of the neuron and how their dysfunction causes and/or exacerbates neurodegenerative diseases. Using a multidisciplinary approach (imaging, proteomics and Cas9-mediated perturbation in neurons), we will identify the defining molecular composition of these distinct lysosomal populations, factors that uniquely (or differentially) regulate them, the molecular basis for their differential responses to stresses and mechanisms underlying lysosome dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease and hereditary spastic paraplegia.