The research project has three specific objectives: to test the distribution of mitochondria in distal dendritic branches of Sacs primary PCs; to evaluate dysregulation of Ca2+ homeostasis in Sacs mice and finally to test the efficacy of targeted therapy in Sacs mice....
“Elucidating Sacsin Function Through Genetic Interaction Maps”- Dr.Mohan Babu
Aim 1- Mapping GI network of ARSACS-associated SACS target using CRISPR 1.1. Quantitative readout for scoring GIs 1.2. GI validation and benchmarking Aim 2 - Characterizing ARSACS-linked SACS pathways for function discovery Duration: one year Grant: $100,000 Contact:...
Rescuing mitochondrial division in ARSACS by CIDR”- Dr. Stefan Strack
Aim 1. Generate and characterize mice with chemically inducible mitochondrial division in Purkinje neurons (L7-CIDR mice). Aim 2. Evaluate rescue of Purkinje cell degeneration and motor deficits in SACS-/- mice by inducible mitochondrial division. Duration: two years...
“Cerebellar Cells Derived From Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in 3D Culture Generated From ARSACS Patients As Faithful Disease Model”- Dr.Slaven Erceg
Objective 1. To generate in vitro disease model by creating ARSACS disease- specific cerebellar cells via iPSC from patients and healthy individuals as controls which will serve as a tool to depict disease-specific molecular markers. Objective 2. The comparative...
“Sacsin Chaperone Activity” – Dr.Jason Young
The research project is to examine the ARSACS mutations in the J-HEPN fragment of sacsin, to engineer Hsc70 to potentially identify sacsin-directed substratesand to address whether sacsin promotes degradation of neurofilament heavy subunit (NFH) Duration: one year...
“High-throughput strategy to identify large domains of Sacsin” – Dr Kalle Gehring
The greatest bottleneck in structural studies of Sacsin is the preparation and screening of fragments of thousands of Sacsin constructs with different boundaries, different mutations, and sequences from different species. To overcome this, we have developed a...
“Analyzing the influence of ARSACS mutations on the function of human neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells.” – Dr. Peter McPherson and Dr. Edward Fon
The researchers will use genome editing of hiPSCs to test the hypothesis that point mutations in the SACS gene lead to alterations in mitochondrial function and neurofilament organization in neurons derived from ARSACS patients. Specific aim 1: Generate genome-edited...
“Design and Synthesis of Second Generation Voltage-gated Potassium Channel Modifiers for Correcting Neuronal Dysfunction as a Treatment Strategy for ARSACS” – Talon pharmaceuticals
The overall objective of the project is to devel+op TPS-100 as a first treatment of ARSACS and to identify a second generation drug based on efficacy and knowledge of receptor pharmacology of TPS-100. Our goal is to synthesize a directed library of compounds with...
Identification and functional analysis of the Sacsin interactome using the BioID assay”– Dr. Bernard Brais and Dr. Eric Shoubridge
Continue the investigation of sacsin partners using the BioID assay, using the full length sacsin as well as different sacsin mutants and to further characterize ARSACS fibroblast cytoskeletal disorganization as a cell-based model. Duration: one year Grant: $100,000...
“Identification of cellular mechanisms underlying TPS-100 rescue of motor function in ARSACS mice” – Dr. Alanna Watt and Dr. Anne McKinney.
The McKinney and Watt labs, which are located in close proximity in the Bellini Life Sciences Complex and who already share a mouse colony of ARSACS mice (Sacs-/-) will determine the physiological mode of action of TPS-100 a pharma and aminopyridines on Purkinje cell...