DC CFAR Investigator, Italo Mocchetti, PhD, has recently been awarded an R21 from the National Institutes of Health entitled, "Gp120 Binds To Neuronal Microtubules: A New Mechanism for Synaptic Simplificatnio".
This study seeks to examine the novel hypothesis that the HIV protein gp120 decreases neuronal survival by binding to microtubules and changing their function. The proposal discusses the importance of neuronal microtubules for transporting mitochondria and other organelles that provide energy to neurons. The hope is that data from this study will help to better understand the mechanisms used by HIV to cause the brain pathology in order to design new compounds that could inhibit brain damage caused by HIV.
Click here to read the full abstract.