Home Department: undeclared
Mentor: Wah Chiu (Bioengineering, Microbiology & Immunology)

“Studying Protein Synthesis and Folding Under Huntington’s Disease in iPSC-Derived Neurons and Mouse Primary Neurons Using Cryogenic-Electron Tomography”

Huntington’s Disease (HD) is a fatal, incurable neurodegenerative disorder – manifesting in cognitive and motor impairment – caused by a mutated Huntingtin protein (mHTT) with an expanded polyglutamine tract. mHTT forms toxic aggregates and inclusions. Structural biology studies have primarily focused on mHTT aggregate morphology and organelle dysfunction. However, HD has been shown to cause translation and proteostasis disruptions. Eli will use cryogenic-electron tomography to investigate how mHTT affects translation and chaperones in-situ in neuronal HD models. His project will determine the distribution of translation states and chaperonin conformations under mHTT stress. Identifying biomarkers of HD is essential for developing diagnostics and treatments.