Team Mobley

Study Rationale: Team Mobley recently discovered that it is possible to generate new neurons to rebuild the damaged neural circuitries in a Parkinson’s disease model. This establishes a new foundation for developing strategies to reverse the disease. Team Mobley’s proposed project will investigate how to change a cell’s identity to encourage it to become a neuron, how to make the right new type of neurons in the brain to rebuild different circuitries, and how to make new neurons that will not become sick again.

Hypothesis: Team Mobley hypothesizes that astrocytes, an abundant population of non-neuronal cells in the brain, store a latent program that allows them to become neurons if the right types of inducing signals are provided.

Study Design: Team Mobley has designed five sets of experiments to address a series of fundamental questions on cell fate determination and reprogramming. The team will analyze individual cells to elucidate key regulatory events responsible for those cells to become neurons. Team Mobley will search for critical genes that make cell fate change less efficient so that the team can improve the reprogramming efficiency by inhibiting the function of those genes. The team will examine reprogramming in different brain regions to test their benefits to both motor and non-motor symptoms and develop strategies to make new and disease-resistant neurons.

Impact on Diagnosis: More information on cellular reprogramming will pave the way to rebuilding the neural circuitries lost to degeneration. If successful, this will lead to the development of a completely new cell replacement therapy against Parkinson’s disease.