Dissecting endolysosomal trafficking defects in Parkinson's disease

Nerve cells move proteins and break them down using a transport and waste disposal system called the endolysosomal pathway. The correct functioning of this system is controlled by many genes, some of which are damaged in people with Parkinson's disease. 

We will study what happens when we block these genes from working in the fruit fly. We will also look at genes in flies with damaged endolysosomal systems to see which genes make the flies less likely to develop disease. 

We hope to discover new drugs and sites that drugs can work on to prevent Parkinson's disease. We will test the drugs in nerve cells developed from human stem cells which, if successful, can be tested in people with Parkinson's.