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Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD), heavily burden our rapidly aging society. For effective therapies, we must understand how certain protein aggregates cause toxicity in the neurons. Recently, we discovered that Processing bodies, cytosolic RNA granules, represent a novel pathway in alpha-synuclein-the major protein that aggregates in PD-mediated toxicity. In our lab, we will investigate the molecular mechanisms of P-body function in PD and healthy neurons, how RNA granules crosstalk with lipid membranes through a-synuclein and how a-synuclein affects other RNA metabolism related pathways.
Our lab will utilize mainly iPSC derived cortical neurons for elucidating P-body (patho)physiology. For large scale high-throughput experiments to elucidate chemogenetic determinants of a-synuclein membrane residents, we will perform CRISPR and flow cytometry based chemical screens in human cell lines with the validation step in human neurons. For discovery of novel RNA related pathways, we will use orfeome wide protein tagging (a perturbation sensor tag) in disease models of human cell lines, followed by verification in human neurons. In addition, our main philosophy will be to learn what is necessary to solve a particular problem.
Erinc Hallacli received an MS in molecular and cellular biology from Heidelberg University (Germany) and a PhD at the European Molecular Biology Labs (EMBL). He was a postdoc at the Whitehead Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and later a postdoc and instructor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Boston, US). He is assistant professor of neurology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and will join the Max Perutz Labs in April 2024.
Chromatin as a gatekeeper of chromosome replication
Mind matters. VBC mental health awareness
The multiple facets of Hop1 during meiotic prophase
Chromosomes as Mechanical Objects: from E.coli to Meiosis to Mammalian cells
Convergent evolution of CO2-fixing liquid-liquid phase separation
Viral envelope engineering for cell type specific delivery
New ways of leading: inclusive leadership and revising academic hierarchies
How an opportunistic human pathogen colonizes surfaces - From pathogen behavior to new drugs
Title to be announced
Decoding Molecular Plasticity in the Dark Proteome of the Nuclear Pore Complex
Probing the 3D genome architectural basis of neurodevelopment and aging in vivo
How to tango with four - the evolution of meiotic chromosome segregation after genome duplication
Multidimensional approach to decoding the mysteries of animal development
Connecting mitotic chromosomes to dynamic microtubules - insight from biochemical reconstitution
Membrane remodeling proteins at the junction between prokaryotes and eukaryotes
Neurodiversity in academia: strengths and challenges of neurodivergence
Gene expression dynamics during the awakening of the zygotic genome
When all is lost? Measuring historical signals
Suckers and segments of the octopus arm
Using the house mouse radiation to study the rapid evolution of genes and genetic processes
CRISPR jumps ahead: mechanistic insights into CRISPR-associated transposons
Title to be announced
Enigmatic evolutionary origin and multipotency of the neural crest cells - major drivers of vertebrate evolution
Visualising mitotic chromosomes and nuclear dynamics by correlative light and electron microscopy
Bacterial cell envelope homeostasis at the (post)transcriptional level
Polyploidy and rediploidisation in stressful times
Prdm9 control of meiotic synapsis of homologs in intersubspecific hybrids
RNA virus from museum specimens
Programmed DNA double-strand breaks during meiosis: Mechanism and evolution
Title to be announced