Wilma M. Wasco, Ph.D.

Research

Our laboratory is interested in factors and events that surround the neuronal degeneration that is characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease and normal aging. The laboratory studies the regulation and function of genes that have been associated with Alzheimer’s disease. My lab has been directly involved in the identification and characterization of a number of such genes - two amyloid precursor-like proteins (APLP1 and APLP2), both of the presenilin proteins (PS1 and PS2) and calsenilin, a presenilin interacting protein that is also a neuronal calcium binding protein. By understanding the biological role that each protein plays in both the normal and the aging brain and determining how disease associated mutations change these functions, we can begin to understand neuronal degeneration and explore rational therapeutic interventions