image: Or Shemesh, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Credit: University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh neurobiologist Or Shemesh, Ph.D., has been awarded a three-year, $400,000 NIH Trailblazer Award from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering to develop a platform that could pave the way for healing neurodegeneration and other brain disorders.
The project aims to genetically modify different types of glia, a class of cells that supports and protects the brain’s neurons. “Glia cells are pivotal to the development of brain disease, so approaches that alter their activity could lead to new treatments,” says Shemesh, assistant professor of neurobiology at Pitt's School of Medicine.
Scientists have made progress using traditional virus-based vectors to deliver genes to neurons. But that viral approach hasn’t been ideal in glia, which includes astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, microglia and other cell types, says Shemesh.
Shemesh’s approach uses bioengineering modified RNAs, or modRNAs. These synthetic RNAs are directly translated into proteins by cellular machinery, circumventing the possibility of triggering an immune response when a virus is used to transport genes into the cell.
To show the concept works, Shemesh’s team will use their glia RNA-vector technology to increase or decrease the activity of disease-relevant genes in either astrocytes or microglia in the brains of mice.
“We are seeing more research, including from Pitt, that indicates astrocytes and other glia play an important role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease,” Shemesh says. “So our new platform could one day provide a unique strategy to treat dementia.”