Diane Moujalled
The role of RNA binding protein in frontotemporal dementia
Award
AADRF Half Funded Postdoctoral Fellowship
Status
Completed
Start Date
6 January 2014
About the project
Recent studies have identified a brain protein called ‘transactivation response DNA-binding protein-43’, or TDP-43, as having a key role in frontotemporal dementia. However, it is not yet clear how changes in TDP-43 lead to the loss of brain cell function and structure that is seen in frontotemporal dementia. Preliminary work from Dr Moujaled’s lab has shown that another important protein called hnRNP K may regulate the accumulation of mutated TDP-43 in brain cells. In the present study, Dr Moujaled aims to understand the molecular mechanism controlling TDP-43 accumulation in cells, to determine how mutations in TDP-43 may influence the action of hnRNP K, and to see how these contribute to the death of brain cells in people with frontotemporal dementia. If successful, the research may lead to new approaches to developing treatments for frontotemporal dementia and related neurodegenerative diseases.
Publications and presentations resulting from award
Moujalled D, James JL, Yang S, Zhang K, Moujalled DM, Parker SJ, Caragounis A, Lidgerwood G, Turner BJ, Atkin JD, Grubman A, Liddell JR, Pröpper C, Böckers TM, Kanninen KM, Blair I, Crouch PJ, White AR. (2015). Phosphorylation of hnRNP K by cyclin-dependent kinase 2 controls cytosolic accumulation of TDP-43. Human Molecular Genetics, 24 (6), 1655-1669. http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/content/24/6/1655.
Where are they now?
Dr Moujaled is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne. She began her two year half funded AADRF fellowship in early 2014.
