Carla Nasca

Carla Nasca, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry

Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology

Keywords
Exosomes, LAC: Acetyl-L-carnitine, Mitochondria, Epigenetics, Precision Medicine Strategies, Stress, Childhood trauma, Depression, Alzheimer's Disease
Summary

My laboratory is focused on molecular mechanisms of brain plasticity with a new angle on the communication between mitochondria and nuclei of a cell to allow epigenetic regulation and the expression of genes that are important for brain plasticity. We use preclinical models to identify the ways in which stress exposure changes brain mitochondrial metabolism and the corresponding epigenetic programming of plasticity, and we extensively validate and translate basic neuroscience discoveries through the study of well-characterized cohorts of patients with main mental illnesses, including depression and Alzheimer’s disease.

Key to this framework is the pivotal mitochondrial metabolite acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC), which my group discovered as an epigenetic modulator for the rapid regulation of brain plasticity and a therapeutic target for clinical phenotypes of depression, including treatment resistant depression. In recent years, my laboratory has also developed a new technology for the isolation of neuronal and astroglial exosomes which can be extracted from blood of a patient and their molecular cargo can be characterized using targeted and next-generation sequencing approaches to study molecular biomarkers and mechanisms of brain plasticity dynamically and prospectively. Using neuronal exosomes and computational approaches, we showed that mitochondrial metabolism of LAC is predictive of changes in other important aspects of human physiology, such as insulin resistance, and clinical outcomes, i.e.: treatment responses. 

These discoveries have been contributing to rethink the way we study brain plasticity in multiple mental illnesses, and to refine the development of the most effective approaches for biomarkers of brain processes in pursuit of personalized therapeutic strategies.

Academic office

1 Park Avenue

8th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Lab Website
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PhD from Sapienza University of Rome

Rockefeller University, Bruce McEwen Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology

McEwen, Bruce S; Bowles, Nicole P; Gray, Jason D; Hill, Matthew N; Hunter, Richard G; Karatsoreos, Ilia N; Nasca, Carla

Nature neuroscience. 2015 Oct; 18(10):1353-63

Nasca, Carla; Xenos, Dionysios; Barone, Ylenia; Caruso, Alessandra; Scaccianoce, Sergio; Matrisciano, Francesco; Battaglia, Giuseppe; Mathé, Aleksander A; Pittaluga, Anna; Lionetto, Luana; Simmaco, Maurizio; Nicoletti, Ferdinando

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). 2013 Mar 19; 110(12):4804-9

Nasca, Carla; Bigio, Benedetta; Lee, Francis S; Young, Sarah P; Kautz, Marin M; Albright, Ashly; Beasley, James; Millington, David S; Mathé, Aleksander A; Kocsis, James H; Murrough, James W; McEwen, Bruce S; Rasgon, Natalie

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). 2018 08 21; 115(34):8627-8632

Nasca, Carla; Bigio, Benedetta; Zelli, Danielle; de Angelis, Paolo; Lau, Timothy; Okamoto, Masahiro; Soya, Hideyo; Ni, Jason; Brichta, Lars; Greengard, Paul; Neve, Rachael L; Lee, Francis S; McEwen, Bruce S

Neuron. 2017 Oct 11; 96(2):402-413.e5

Nasca, Carla; Dobbin, Josh; Bigio, Benedetta; Watson, Kathleen; de Angelis, Paolo; Kautz, Marin; Cochran, Ashly; Mathé, Aleksander A; Kocsis, James H; Lee, Francis S; Murrough, James W; McEwen, Bruce S; Rasgon, Natalie

Molecular psychiatry. 2021 Sep; 26(9):5140-5149

Nasca, Carla; Menard, Caroline; Hodes, Georgia; Bigio, Benedetta; Pena, Catherine; Lorsch, Zachary; Zelli, Danielle; Ferris, Anjali; Kana, Veronika; Purushothaman, Immanuel; Dobbin, Josh; Nassim, Marouane; DeAngelis, Paolo; Merad, Miriam; Rasgon, Natalie; Meaney, Michael; Nestler, Eric J; McEwen, Bruce S; Russo, Scott J

Biological psychiatry. 2019 09 15; 86(6):483-491

Bigio, Benedetta; Mathé, Aleksander A; Sousa, Vasco C; Zelli, Danielle; Svenningsson, Per; McEwen, Bruce S; Nasca, Carla

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). 2016 07 12; 113(28):7906-11