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Full NameProfessor Marina Lynch
Department of Physiology
Trinity College Dublin
Webpage:medicine.tcd.ie
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- neuroscience and mental health
- Medicine
- Dementia
- Immunology
- Neurophysiology
- Neuropsychiatry
My research group focuses on assessing the impact of microglial activation on the neuroinflammation and loss of neuronal function that develops with age and in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Microglia play an important role in maintaining homeostasis in the brain under normal conditions but, in the aged brain, and especially in neurodegenerative conditions, they respond more to inflammatory stimuli, including amyloid-β, the peptide that predominates in the plaques associated with AD. As a result, they shift to an M1-like phenotype with glycolysis as their energy source. The developing age-related neuroinflammation, which is coupled with evidence of inflammasome activation in microglia and reduced neuronal function, increases amyloid pathology in a mouse model of AD.
Recent data from genome-wide association studies have indicated that inflammation is likely to be a significant factor in driving the pathology that accompanies AD and therefore we are investigating significant questions like
(a) is microglial activation the key inducer of neuroinflammation and consequently of loss of neuronal function?
(b) what is responsible for stimulating microglial activation?
(c) why does age/AD prevent microglia from switching back to their protective state?
(d) what strategies can be used to modulate microglial activation so that their plasticity can be restored and the deteriorating neuronal function and pathology be limited or prevented?