| Affiliations: | DeBakey Research Leadership Program |
| Project Leader: | Danielle Michaud dmichaud@tamu.edu Veterinary Integrative Biosciences |
| Faculty Mentor: | Dr. Peter Nghiem, Ph.D. |
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Meeting Times:
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TBD |
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Team Size:
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4
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| Open Spots: | 0 |
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Special Opportunities:
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If the work leads to a publication and students help write-up the analysis, they will be listed as co-authors.
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Team Needs:
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ere are two positions available on this project, and I would like at least 5 hours a week per person. Experience is not required, and at this time all research will be conducted remotely. For the summer 2020 semesters, the work will comprise of analysis of images using open source software ImageJ, so access to a computer will be necessary. Unfortunately due to the pandemic I am unable to provide access to laboratory computers for the analysis, though if the university libraries are open then they can be used. The bulk of the project will be microscopy and ImageJ analysis. Must be hard working, pro-active, willing to learn, and help teach others. Times are flexible and we can work out a meeting time that is best for everyone once the team is decided.
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Description:
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Myosin-Va (MYOVA) is an unconventional motor protein that is essential for proper neuronal function, as it transports important cargo within neuronal dendrites. Loss of MYOVA in neurons has a detrimental effect on both their morphology and function, can lead to cell death, and is causative of severe mental retardation and psychomotor function in the human disease Griscelli Syndrome type 1. The loss of MYOVA in glial cells such as oligodendrocytes has been studied to a lesser extent but has also been found to play an important role in their function and morphology. However, currently there is no work detailing how the loss of MYOVA affects astrocytes. The goal of this project is to investigate how the loss of MYOVA function affects the morphology and function of astrocytes through immunofluorescence to determine the changes in astrocyte structure and how the loss of MYOVA affects functionality such as the permeability of the blood brain barrier. I hypothesize that while the astrocyte’s branches and branchlets will maintain their morphology, there will be a significant decrease in the number of leaflets and endfeet, a smaller territory size, and an increase in the blood brain permeability due to deficient MYOVA trafficking. My goal for this project is to confirm the role that MYOVA plays in maintaining the distal cytoskeletal structure in astrocytes with the proposed aims below: Aim 1. Verify the presence of MYOVA in astrocytes. Aim 2. Examine changes in astrocyte morphology due to the loss of MYOVA function.
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