{"id":258,"date":"2008-09-08T09:51:36","date_gmt":"2008-09-08T13:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/?page_id=258"},"modified":"2025-12-22T10:12:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T15:12:18","slug":"neuroscience-and-aging","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/research\/neuroscience-and-aging\/","title":{"rendered":"Neuroscience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The medical, social, and economic impact of age-related neurodegenerative diseases is immense, and is increasing rapidly as life expectancy is extended and the average age of the population shifts upward.\u00a0These disorders, which include Alzheimer\u2019s disease, Parkinson\u2019s disease, prion diseases and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, are due to the misfolding and aggregation of key brain proteins.\u00a0Multiple sclerosis is another chronic neurological condition that is the subject of intensive research. All of these disorders are related to perturbations in key cellular and molecular pathways, including those related to protein folding and degradation, neuronal plasticity, and inflammation. The Department of Biochemistry offers trainees exciting opportunities to study the mechanisms underlying these devastating human neurological diseases, and to explore novel therapies for treating them.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Faculty conducting research in these areas:<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n\t<div class=\"profile-listing\">\n\t\t<ul class=\"advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"has-title\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/profiles\/catherine-e-costello\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/biochemcellbio\/files\/2010\/05\/costello-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-name\">Catherine Costello<\/p>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title\">William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor<br \/>\r\nDirector, Center for Biomedical Mass Spectrometry<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-interest\">Biopolymer structural studies; development of mass spectral methods<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"has-title\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/profiles\/mikel-garcia-marcos\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img width=\"133\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/biochemcellbio\/files\/2016\/07\/IMG_6574.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-name\">Mikel Garcia-Marcos<\/p>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title\">Professor of Biochemistry &#038; Cell Biology<br \/>\r\nProfessor of Biology<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-interest\">G protein signaling circuits in the molecular basis of disease<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"has-title\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/profiles\/david-a-harris\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/biochemcellbio\/files\/2013\/04\/HARRIS3-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"David A. Harris\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-name\">David A. Harris<\/p>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title\">Edgar Minas Housepian Professor<br \/>\r\nChair of Biochemistry &#038; Cell Biology<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-interest\">Alzheimer\u2019s disease and Prion diseases<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"has-title\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/profiles\/shawn-lyons\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/biochemcellbio\/files\/2019\/06\/Lyons-Headshot-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-name\">Shawn Lyons<\/p>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title\">Assistant Professor<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-interest\">RNA metabolism during stress<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div><!--\/.profile-listing-->\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The medical, social, and economic impact of age-related neurodegenerative diseases is immense, and is increasing rapidly as life expectancy is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1191,"featured_media":0,"parent":10,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19526,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/258\/revisions\/19526"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}