Neurodegenerative Disease

About

Summary Millions of individuals worldwide are affected by neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, which arise when brain or nervous system cells lose function or die. Despite this large disease burden, the available therapies are mildly effective at best. Therefore, the treatment of these diseases remains a major unmet clinical need. The Greenberg lab at Harvard Medical School identified a secreted protein, osteocrin, previously thought to be only expressed in musculoskeletal system, as a regulator of neuronal connectivity, survival, and axon growth in humans and non-human primates. In a paper published recently in Nature, Dr. Greenberg and his collaborators demonstrated that osteocrin is present mainly in an area of the brain responsible for higher-level function and thought. Researchers found that osteocrin enhancer is activated by a protein called MEF2 – a critical regulator of synapses and behaviors relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disability. This discovery has the potential to enable the design of novel therapies for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disease. We are looking for a collaborator to jointly develop a therapeutic strategy based on this discovery.