Nishaal Ajmera

• BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences
• Vulnerability of interneuron populations in the cerebral cortex of a mouse model of Lewy Body Dementia

Lewy Body dementia is a common condition associated with mutations in a protein called α-synuclein. We are studying the effects of mutant α-synuclein on nerve cells in a genetically engineered mouse that expresses the mutant protein in its brain. We have evidence that in the cerebral cortex a type of nerve cell called an interneuron, crucial to cognitive function, may be affected, and that mutant α-synuclein may affect energy producing mitochondria causing stress to the interneurons as they require large amounts of energy to function. This project will identify interneurons in thin slices of brain from mutant and control mice, and see if these neurons are fewer in number older mutant mice, and/or show signs of oxidative stress in both young and old mutant mice.

Funding source: Anatomical Society

Supervisors: Dr Gavin Clowry and Dr Fiona LeBeau