Wellfleet library hosts ‘Women in Science’ series

March 2, 2018

Wellfleet Public Library will celebrate Women’s History Month in March with its Third Annual Women in Science Series. The events are held on Sundays at 3 p.m.

The series, which is free and open to all ages, is made possible by the Friends of the Wellfleet Library. Here’s the line up:

March 18: Studying Neurodegenerative Diseases with Assistant Professor of Biology at Northeastern Illinois University, Cindy Voisine.

As the brain ages, it becomes susceptible to a variety of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

A common feature of these age-related neurodegenerative disorders is that specific proteins associated with each disease tend to clump and form large aggregated masses in nerve cells leading to loss of neuron function and death.

Voisine’s research group examines the problems of disease protein aggregation, focusing on ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by the progressive loss of motor neurons. Motor neurons are responsible for innervating muscle cells.

Recent studies suggest that these clumping proteins act like prions and infect neighboring cells, spreading neurotoxicity. Deciphering the mechanism of cell-to-cell transmissibility will reveal pathways underlying the spread of ALS within the brain and spinal cord, she says. Identifying these pathways is a necessary first step for development of therapeutics to treat ALS.

http://brewster.wickedlocal.com/news/20180302/wellfleet-library-hosts-women-in-science-series