Grant Awarded

Regulation of the Expression of the Proneural Gene Neurogenin2 in the Adult Spinal Cord
Guillemot, François, PhD
Division of Molecular Neurobiology, NIMR, London, England

Although the first clinical signs of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are muscle weakness and atrophy, these symptoms result from selective degeneration of motor neurons.

During embryonic development some cells are elected to become neurons because their environment convinces them to express proneural genes. These genes have the property to convert cells into neurons to build nerve fibers. A gene comprises the instructions for making a protein, but also the control mechanism, the on-off switch, that ensures that its product is produced in the correct place and at the correct time. We are interested primarily in the latter. In principle, the mechanism has been understood for forty years (Jacob and Monod, 1961). A protein (called a "transcription factor") binds to a specific site (the "control element") on the DNA of the responding gene (the "target gene") and acts as a switch to turn the gene either on or off. In this project, we aim to identify the control mechanisms in the case of a proneural gene, Neurogenin 2.

Our goal is to identify molecules, therefore potential drugs that induce the expression of proneural genes with the hope to convert new cells into neurons to replace those affected by the neurodegenerative process.