Joanna E. Pankiewicz, MD, PhD

I am a physician scientist with training background in neurology and biochemistry. My research explores mechanisms of neurodegeneration, which drive pathology of Alzheimer’s disease and prion diseases. I develop and characterize novel transgenic mouse models and cell culture models for these diseases and study how ß-amyloid, hyperphosphorylated tau, and pathological conformers of the prion protein accumulate in the brain and how accumulation of these proteins leads to nerve cell dysfunction and triggers inflammatory response from microglia and astrocytes. In particular, I am interested in the role of astrocyte derived proteins, including apolipoprotein E and peroxiredoxine 6 in the regulation of inflammatory response produced by glial cells. In my work, I use a wide range of research methods including quantitate neuropathology, confocal microscopy, image analysis, protein chemistry, single cell isolation, and RNA sequencing. My research aims to identify those disease mechanisms, which can be leveraged to develop novel therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases.