SUPR
A computational approach to astrocyte reprogramming for cell replacement therapy in Parkinson's disease
Dnr:

NAISS 2023/22-1247

Type:

NAISS Small Compute

Principal Investigator:

Mubasher Mohammed

Affiliation:

Karolinska Institutet

Start Date:

2023-12-07

End Date:

2025-01-01

Primary Classification:

30401: Medical Biotechnology (focus on Cell Biology (incl. Stem Cell Biology), Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Biochemistry or Biopharmacy)

Allocation

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, which critically results in the loss of midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons. Current treatments for PD are symptomatic, but cell replacement therapies such as transplantation of midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) progenitors or reprogramming of glial cells into mDA neurons, have been identified as interesting therapeutic strategies. While cell transplantation is currently under clinical trials, reprogramming strategies of midbrain astrocyte remain at an experimental stage and require further development. In this project, we are aiming to conduct large-scale integration of publicly available datasets to define adult human midbrain astrocyte subtypes and further characterize a specific cell population for cell conversion methods.