Natura Myeku, PhD

Our laboratory has a long-standing interest in understanding the mechanism of deficient protein quality control in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders with a common feature accumulation of disease-specific proteins in different brain regions. In particular, we are interested in studying the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), the principal pathway for protein turnover in mammalian cells.  At the center of the UPS is the 26S proteasome, a 2.5 MDa, multi-catalytic, ATP-dependent protease that degrades ubiquitinated protein into small peptides. As we age, the function of 26S proteasomes in neurons becomes less efficient, but in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, proteasome function becomes profoundly impaired, contributing to the accumulation of oligomers and aggregates, a common hallmark of otherwise clinically and etiologically diverse diseases. Our research aims to elucidate the mechanistic cascades of the failed protein breakdown by 26S proteasomes in neurodegenerative diseases and propose translational therapies of proteasome-targeting interventions that could prevent or delay age-related diseases.

Research Interests

• Alzheimer’s and other Dementia Diseases 
• Translational Neuroscience 
• Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
• Synaptic Biology