Thompson Lab
Principal Investigator: Leslie Michels Thompson
Institution: University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA)
Primary Subfield: Neuroscience
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
Huntington’s disease (HD), one of the first neurodegenerative diseases for which a genetic cause was determined, is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder that has no disease-modifying treatment. HD is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the HTT gene encoding a polyglutamine (polyQ) tract within the amino terminal portion of Huntingtin (HTT). While the field has gained an understanding of the many cellular processes that are disrupted in HD, we do not yet understand the interplay between key proximal HD-associated events, such as the relationship between aberrant mutant HTT (mHTT) accumulation, RNA biology and epigenetic events in specific cell types in the brain. Similarly, we do not know how changes in these processes impact clinical manifestation of disease, where best to intervene therapeutically and what outcome measures may be the most informative in HD models. The overarching focus of the research proposed here is to fill vital gaps in our knowledge about how these factors impact onset and progression of HD and how that understanding might lead to new disease-altering therapies. The proposed research will leverage unique resources and methods developed in my lab and those o…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R35NS116872-07: Molecular Mechanisms of Pathogenesis in Huntington’s disease (2026)
- 5R35NS116872-06: Molecular Mechanisms of Pathogenesis in Huntington’s disease (2025)
- 5R35NS116872-05: Molecular Mechanisms of Pathogenesis in Huntington’s disease (2024)
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