Our laboratory seeks a complete understanding of a fundamental and novel mechanism of neuronal protein homeostasis which is co-opted into a new form of neuromodulation. In essence, we discovered a neuronal-specific mechanism of protein degradation through a neuronal plasma membrane proteasome complex. Substrates are degraded by this complex into released extracellular peptides which signal to other cells in the brain. 

This is not only one of the few neuronal-specific mechanisms of proteostasis but is also a completely new mechanism that neurons use to communicate and process information

Currently, we specialize in techniques across biochemistry, cell biology, state-of-the-art microscopy, chemical biology, genetics, and neurobiology to interrogate this novel system of neuronal proteostasis and neuronal signaling. Our work is supported by the Taub Institute at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, Fidelity Biomedical Research Initiative, the Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship, the Alzheimer’s Association, and Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.

We are housed in the Taub Institute on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain. We are affiliated with both the Department of Neurology and Department of Neuroscience at Columbia.