Alzheimer's disease: a fish as the main experimental model

Melissa Page (LIBST - BNTE) was awarded by the the Alzheimer’s Research Foundation (Fondation Recherche Alzheimer) in support of her research on cellular ageing in the brain and its potential contribution to the establishment and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. This three year funded project will primarily focus on mitochondrial dysfunction.

The short-lived Nothobranchius furzeri (African turquoise killifish) will be the primary experimental model and will be bred and reared within the ANCA platform.

The aim of the project is to determine whether impaired protein import and reduced unfolded protein response in mitochondria can be associated to cognitive decline and markers of neurodegeneration that characterise Alzheimer’s disease.

The results of the PhD candidate Oksana Savel (in the picture with Melissa) have contributed to the establishment of this project.

A new PhD position is now open to continue this line of research.