CIRCADIAN CONTROL OF BEHAVIOUR ASSOCIATED WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE SOMATIC MUTATIONS IMPACTING THE CYTOSKELETON
Home institution: Tel Aviv University – Israel (24 months)
Host institution: Santiago de Compostela University – Spain (10 months)
PhD Enrolment #1: Tel Aviv University – Israel
PhD Enrolment #2: Santiago de Compostela University – Spain
Supervisor #1: Illana Gozes
Supervisor #2: Maria José Alonso
Intersectoral Secondment: Biofabics – Portugal
Objectives: The Elton Laboratory for Molecular Neuroendocrinology, Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, is looking to appoint a Marie Curie Research Fellow within a fixed term project entitled “Circadian control of behaviour associated with Alzheimer’s disease somatic mutations impacting the cytoskeleton”, funded by the Horizon Europe project TClock4AD.
The doctoral candidate will work for two years in Israel (Tel Aviv University) and for 10 months in Spain (University of Santiago de Compostela) and will be involved in a 2-month secondment to a Portuguese company (BIOFABICS).
Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and the related pituitary adenylate activating polypeptide (PACAP) developed by us have been directly linked and essential to circadian clock (CC) activity. We propose to exploit these resources to comprehensively delineate the crosstalk between the CC, microtubules and mouse circadian behaviour during neurodegeneration associated with AD: i) testing our VIP and PACAP analogues in cell cultures expressing ADNP mutations (genome edited) mimicking Alzheimer’s related somatic mutations, ii) Based on AD mouse models expressing ADNP mutations (genome edited or haploinsufficient) developed in the lab, VIP and PACAP analogues (the best chosen in i) will be tested; iii) Test analogues in collaboration with partners. University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) will develop novel nanotechnology delivery methods for VIP/PACAP drug candidates.
Expected outcomes:
The fellow is expected to generate breakthrough ideas in the assigned area of research, as well as to carry out research in line with the project plan. The fellow is also expected to contribute to dissemination and communication activities, besides actively collaborating within the TClock4AD network. This DC will work closely with USC, BIOFAB (organ-on-chip), and Foundation for Research and Technology (Forth) (autophagy).
