Ling Qi, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, and Shengyi (Iris) Sun, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology, and their research teams, earned a $3.2 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to investigate the mechanisms underlying SEL1L-HRD1 ERAD (Endoplasmic Reticulum-Associated Degradation) disease variants. Their project aims to uncover the biological processes that contribute to the development of neurodegenerative and immunological diseases linked to defects in protein degradation in the endoplasmic reticulum.
The researchers’ groundbreaking findings were published in 2024 in four scientific journals, including two papers in The Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI), one in JCI Insight, and one in Nature Communications. Their collaborators include a distinguished group of international and national researchers: Drs. Fowzan Alkuraya (Saudi Arabia), Margit Burmeister (University of Michigan), Nicola Brunetti-Pierri (Italy), Karine Poirier and Claude Besmond (France), and Denisa Weis and Johannes Mayr (Austria). Key contributors from the University of Virginia include postdoctoral fellows Drs. Huilun (Helen) Wang and Liangguang (Leo) Lin, research scientist Dr. Mauricio Torres, and MSTP student Jason Li. Their collective efforts have been instrumental in advancing understanding of ERAD-related diseases.
Read more about their project here.
Comments