Hugo J Bellen, DVM, PhD, Departments of Molecular and Human Genetics and Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine

Abstract: 

I will present data that show that rare neurological diseases can serve as model for much more common diseases such as AD, PD and MS. Importantly, these disease affect lipid metabolism and I will argue that different lipids are at the root of these neurodegenerative diseases.

Publications: 

Moulton MJ, Barish S, Ralhan I, Chang J, Goodman LD, Harland J, Macrogliese PC, Johansson JO, Ioannou M, Bellen HJ (2021) Neuronal ROS-Induced Glial Lipid Droplet Formation is Altered by Loss of Alzheimer's Disease-associated Genes. bioRxiv.

Lin G, Lee PT, Chen K, Mao D, Tan KL, Zuo Z, Lin WW, Wang L, Bellen HJ (2018) Phospholipase PLA2G6, a Parkinsonism-associated gene, affects Vps26 and Vps35, retromer function, and ceramide levels, similar to alpha-Synuclein gain. Cell Metabolism 28:605-618. 

Chung HL, Wangler MF, Marcogliese PC, Jo J, Ravenscroft TA, Zuo Z, Duraine L, Sadeghzadeh S, Li-Kroeger D, Schmidt RE, Pestronk A, Rosenfeld JA, Burrage L, Herndon MJ, Chen S, Members of Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Shillington A, Vawter-Lee M, Hopkin R, Rodriguez-Smith J, Henrickson M, Lee B, Moser AB, Jones RO, Watkins P, Yoo T, Mar S, Choi M, Bucelli RC, Yamamoto S, Lee HK, Prada CE, Chae JH, Vogel TP, Bellen HJ (2020) Loss- or gain-of-function mutations in ACOX1cause axonal loss via different mechanisms. Neuron 106:589-606. Recommended by F1000. Neuron 106:551-3.