2015 Seed Grant
Anjon Audhya, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Our overall goal is to define new mechanisms that sustain and enhance neuron viability and function during development and aging. The functional characterization of TFG, which has been implicated in several axonopathies including hereditary spastic paraplegia, Charot-Marie-Tooth Disease, and proximal dominant hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy, will contribute both to our understanding of the pathomechanisms underlying these diseases and reveal general requirements for lifelong axonal maintenance. Collectively, our studies may uncover new, unifying mechanisms that underlie a variety of neurodegenerative disorders, and establish a stemcell based model system, which is both facile and tractable, and can ultimately gauge the value of therapeutic treatments that are currently under development.
