The brain is the most energy consuming organ of the body and is highly sensitive to energetic perturbations. However, regulatory mechanism that modulate neuronal metabolism are poorly understood. In firing nerve terminals, both glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) are rapidly upregulated to meet the energetic requirements of synaptic activity1. While this upregulation represents transient modulation of neuronal metabolism, it is not clear how neurons adapt to chronic changes in energetic burden that also occur in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The research in my lab will be focused on uncovering novel regulators of glycolytic and mitochondrial metabolism at the synapse and their role in the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease.

• Lab Website