Lena Burbulla

My research focus is to define key molecular pathways in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration by studying rare genetic diseases with a goal of identifying converging pathways and specific targets for therapeutic development. Utilizing genetic forms of Parkinson’s disease as a model, the overall objective of my work is to evaluate disease mechanisms in specific subtypes of human neurons in an age-dependent manner. For that I am studying long-term cultures of vulnerable midbrain dopaminergic neurons generated from induced pluripotent stem cells by a combination of genomic approaches and functional physiological assays. One major theme is the investigation of the role of oxidative stress as one possible initiating factor contributing to neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease. My goal is to evaluate the consequences of oxidative stress in disease progression by studying associated pathogenic mechanisms such as accumulation of aggregation-prone-proteins and toxic dopamine by-products as well as deficient autophagy and lysosomal degradation. This work also includes identifying specific targets for effective therapeutic intervention in Parkinson's disease.