PCOL512

043248

Neurodegenerative diseases are a group of clinically heterogeneous disorders characterized by progressive loss or dysfunction of neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) or peripheral nervous system (PNS) during aging, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Although effective treatments for these devastating diseases are very limited, considerable progress has been made to understand how pathological changes in the disease brain cause neurodegeneration. By using faculty presentation, this course will use faculty lecture and student presentation of research articles to discuss the pathological hallmarks, genetics, molecular pathomechanism, and current diagnosis and treatment of AD, PD, ALS, and CJD. To ensure in-depth understanding of these devastating diseases, this course will cover current themes in the pathogenesis including but not limited to protein liquid--liquid phase separation and aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction, genetic risking factors, reactive oxygen species, neuroinflammation, and blood-brain barrier. This course will help students understand the significance of widely investigated amyloid beta, tau, and TDP-43 in various major neurodegenerative diseases. In this course, the epidemiology and clinical presentation of the diseases will also be covered.

GRD - Regular Grades A, B, C, D, E

Graduate