Amy Lloyd, PhD, University of Dundee, Dundee, shares an overview of her ongoing work using deep proteomic analysis to understand the roles of microglia in health and in neurodegenerative disease. Accumulating evidence supports the critical role of the immune system, and specifically microglia, in Alzheimer’s disease progression. Substantial advances in our understanding of the heterogeneity of microglia functions and phenotypes have been driven by single cell analysis and transcriptomic profiling, but studies have suggested that what is seen at a transcriptomic level doesn’t necessarily emulate what is seen at a proteomic level. As the proteins expressed directly reflect cellular function, generating in-depth proteome maps of microglia would be of great value. Dr Lloyd outlines their approach, which uses high-resolution quantitative mass spectrometry on human and mouse in vitro and ex vivo samples. Dr Lloyd hopes that this project will not only shed light on microglia function and microglia models, but also provide a resource for researchers investigating different microglia subtypes. This interview took place at the Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) Conference 2023 in Aberdeen, UK.
These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.
