 Dr Elizabeth Coulson Contact: e.coulson@uq.edu.au
Coulson Lab in the Press Joint QBI-US team targets faster Alzheimer’s detection QBI neuroscientists make Alzheimer's disease advance More brain research suggests "use it or lose it" Lab chosen for Research Excellence Award
Dr Elizabeth Coulson Lab Members PhD Students |
Dr Elizabeth CoulsonNerve Cell Survival LabNow welcoming applications for Honours and PhD students to start in 2009Dr Lizzie Coulson Research field Recent Key Publications Biography: Dr Lizzie Coulson did her undergraduate Honours degree at the University of Melbourne majoring in Genetics and Biochemistry. Her PhD (1997) in the Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, with Professor Colin Masters, was on the normal function of the Amyloid protein precursor of Alzheimer’s disease. Following a Year at the ZMBH, University of Heidelberg, Germany, She pursued postdoctoral work studying the neuronal cell death in neurodegeneration and development at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute before being recruited in 2003 to the University of Queensland as a Founding member of the Queensland Brain Institute to establish her independent laboratory. Research Field:[top]The primary research goal of the Coulson Laboratory is to identify and characterise the regulators of neurodegeneration and neuronal death with the aim of understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms, and with a longer term goal of translating these findings into candidate therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative diseases. The focus of my research has been to characterise the cell death signalling pathway mediated by the p75 neurotrophin receptor ( p75NTR), a neural death receptor which is activated in a number of neurodegenerative conditions. My specific aims, capitalise on my expertise in studying the structure and function of p75NTR and lie at the leading edge of the neurotrophin and cell survival fields. • How neurotransmitter- and neurotrophin-mediated signals determine cell survival. Investigation of the basic molecular mechanisms by which neurotransmitter receptor activation and receptor trafficking affect p75NTR activation and subsequent death signalling. The function of signalling proteins using will manipulated using modern molecular and biochemical means in in vitro and in vivo models. • Regulation of p75NTR death signalling. Investigation of p75NTR cleavage in promoting death signalling, using state-of-the-art confocal microscopy techniques to image live cells and cell membranes in real time, as well as western blotting. This project will lead to a greater understanding of p75NTR biology, and will also provide knowledge of the kinetics of p75NTR -mediated death signals and the time frame within which they can be inhibited. • Role of p75NTR in neurodegenerative disease. We recently reported that p75NTR death signalling could be promoted by inhibiting its proteolytic processing by γ-secretase, the cleavage enzyme that generates the amyloid peptide that characteristically accumulates in Alzheimer’s disease. More recent findings, demonstrate that amyloid peptides promote the death of cholinergic neurons by inhibition of γ-secretase cleavage of p75NTR. The next step is to further investigate the regulation and activation of p75NTR death signalling in cholinergic neurons in Alzheimer’s disease, and to test whether disrupting p75NTR function can prevent cholinergic degeneration, and cognitive decline, in animal models. Recent Key Publications: A Sotthibundhu, QX Li, W Thangnipon, EJ Coulson (2008) β-amyloid1-42 stimulates adult subventricular zone neurogenesis through the p75 neurotrophin receptor. Neurobiology of Aging in press 13/2/08 CK Underwood, EJ Coulson. Molecules in Focus: p75 neurotrophin receptor. International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (in press 19/6/07) doi:10.1016/ j.biocel.2007.06.010 REVIEW A Sotthibundhu, AM Sykes, B Fox, CK Underwood, W Thangnipon, EJ Coulson (2008) β-amyloid1-42 induces neuronal death through the p75 neurotrophin receptor C-terminal fragment. Journal of Neuroscience 28: 3941-46 EJ Coulson, LM May, SL Osborne, K Reid, CK Underwood, F Meunier, PF Bartlett, P Sah (2008) p75 neurotrophin receptor mediates neuronal cell death by activating GIRK channels through phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate. Journal of Neuroscience 28: 315-24. CK Underwood, K Reid, LM May, PF Bartlett, EJ Coulson (2008) Palmitoylation of the C-terminal fragment of p75NTR regulates death signaling and is required for subsequent cleavage by γ-secretase. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience 37: 346-58 KM Young, T Merson, A Sotthibundhu, EJ Coulson, PF Bartlett. p75NTR expression defines a population of BDNF-responsive neurogenic precursor cells. Journal of Neuroscience 27:5146-55 EJ Coulson. (2006) Does the p75 neurotrophin receptor mediate Aβ-induced toxicity in Alzheimer’s disease? Journal of Neurochemistry 98:654-60 REVIEW EJ Coulson, K Reid, K Shipham, S Morley, TJ Kilpatrick, PF Bartlett. (2004) The role of neurotransmission and the Chopper domain in p75NTR death signaling. Progress in Brain Research 143:41-62 REVIEW EJ Coulson, K Reid, M Baca, K A Shiphan, S M Hulett, TJ Kilpatrick, PF Bartlett (2000) Chopper, a new death domain of the p75 neurotrophin receptor which mediates rapid neuronal cell death. Journal of Biological Chemistry 275:30537-45 EJ Coulson, K Reid, GL Barrett, PF Bartlett (1999) p75NTR-mediated neuronal death is promoted by Bcl-2 and protected by BclxL Journal of Biological Chemistry, 274:16387-91 [top]
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