#LivefromLucy: 'ER-mitochondria contact sites in neurodegeneration: genetic screening approaches to investigate novel disease mechanisms' with Dr Emma Wilson

Wed 10 March 2021

Lucy Cavendish College

Mitochondria-ER contact sites (MERCS) are known to underpin many important cellular homoeostatic functions, including mitochondrial quality control, lipid metabolism, calcium homoeostasis, the unfolded protein response and ER stress. These functions are known to be dysregulated in neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amyloid lateral sclerosis (ALS), and the number of disease-related proteins and genes being associated with MERCS is increasing. However, many details regarding MERCS and their role in neurodegenerative diseases remain unknown. This talk will summarise the current knowledge regarding the structure and function of MERCS and their impact in neurodegenerative diseases as well as novel techniques to investigate and visualise modulators of MERCS.

About the speaker

Originally from Newcastle, Dr Emma Wilson moved to Sheffield in 2010 to conduct an undergraduate bachelors degree in Biomedical Science. During this time, she conducted multiple research projects that made her want to become a scientific researcher, and so she applied for a PhD in the biomedical science department. There, she investigated mitochondria quality control and ER-Mitochondria contact sites using fruit flies as a model. She also conducted outreach - organizing scientific retreat for other PhD students from multiple departments and also started a Jiu Jitsu club. After her PhD, Dr Wilson took a short break from academia and moved to Leeds where she worked in Covance, a Contract Research Organization, analyzing samples from patients who had taken part in clinical trials. However, she missed designing her own experiments and investigating disease mechanisms so she applied for a range of Postdocs all over the country and I was lucky enough to be offered a three year post in Cambridge as part of the Metzakopian Lab in the Dementia research organization. There, Dr Wilson uses IPSC to investigate the link between Parkinson's Disease and the enteric nervous system as well as continuing a project from her PhD investigating ER-Mitochondria contact sites.

Please register to receive Zoom joining instructions for this event. This event is free and open to all.

Cost: Free