Ernst Heinz Pulido (Stanford, CA / US), Katrin Schmitt (Stanford, CA / US), Rong Chi (Stanford, CA / US), Jennifer Okamoto (Stanford, CA / US), Alina Isakova (Stanford, CA / US), Emma Lundberg (Stanford, CA / US)
As our brains age, they undergo continues changes. Human and animal models suggest that even in healthy brains age-related tissue atrophy, alteration in neurotransmitters and damage accumulation in the cellular environment lead to cognitive decline.
Aging processes, especially on the protein level remain incompletely understood. We aim to systematically map proteomic changes in the brain over the aging process with a particular focus on protective factors against neurodegenerative processes.
We leverage high-resolution mass spectrometry on the Thermo Fisher Astral of fresh frozen brain tissue samples, to compare the proteome of different brain regions from male and female healthy human individuals over different age groups.
We strive to identify molecular signatures of healthy brain aging. This will pave new avenues for developing strategies to prevent and or treat cognitive decline.