Pint of Postdoc Speaker Recap - Dr. Jennifer Blackburn

“Uncovering the secrets of youth: what can we learn from the infant primate brain to protect us against aging and disease?”

Dr. Jennifer Blackburn

Edited by:

Jennifer Blackburn (assisted by Aileen Fernandez)

Abstract:

Jennifer Blackburn’s work focuses on preventing the loss of dopamine neurons that occurs in Parkinson’s Disease and in normal aging. Dopamine regulates movement and it is also crucial to cognition, attention, and sensing reward. Due to high energy demands, dopamine neurons have many mitochondria that produce the energy molecule, Adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Unfortunately, as ATP is produced, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are also generated causing oxidative stress. As we age, our dopamine neurons are less able to counteract ROS production by anti-oxidant processes and so ROS levels increase and attack other parts of the neuron, leading to sustained oxidative stress. Despite knowing that oxidative stress is a main contributor to the dysfunction and death of dopamine neurons, there are no treatments that prevent their attrition. For our August 2020 Pint of Postdoc series, Jennifer shared one of her aims to discover new therapeutic targets that could prevent or slow down the progression of Parkinson’s disease, which are desperately needed as current treatments only temporarily alleviate symptoms.

Her work, importantly, involves trying to discover new neuroprotective mechanisms by comparing proteomes of the dopamine system in infant and adult non-human primate brains since dopamine neurons in the infant brain are not susceptible to oxidative stress. By identifying neuroprotective proteins that can be reinstated later in life, safe and effective therapeutic approaches can be developed. Since Parkinson’s disease is more common in men, and women tend to be diagnosed later in life and experience slower progression, she is also looking at sex differences. Additionally, she studies the neuroprotective properties of two anti-diabetic drugs, pioglitazone and metformin, that have been associated with a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease but whose biochemical pathways have not yet been fully elucidated