Dr. Doo Yeon Kim, of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit, is part of Dr. Dora Kovac's team, which is studying beta-secretase (BACE), an enzyme in the brain which can release small fragments of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), the main ingredient for Alzheimer’s plaques.
- Lab Phone: 617-764-1505
Research Investigator Profile
Biography
Affiliations
Doo Yeon Kim
- Assistant Professor,
Harvard Medical School
Research Description
Dr. Doo Yeon Kim contributed to research that shows that in addition to interacting with APP, BACE has an important role in the electric wiring of the brain around the brain cell membranes, and may explain a higher risk of seizures in AD patients. BACE can cleave nerve cell surface molecules called sodium channels, which control how nerve cells fire. Excessive amounts of BACE can disrupt the normal electrical activity of these sodium channels, making nerve cells more vulnerable to aberrant firing and perhaps seizures.
| Research interests | Brain signaling, BACE, APP |
| Diseases studied | Alzheimer's disease |
| Selected publications |
Identification of BACE1 cleavage sites in human voltage-gated sodium channel beta 2 subunit. Gersbacher MT, Kim DY, Bhattacharyya R, Kovacs DM. Mol Neurodegener. 2010 Dec 23;5(1):61. [Epub ahead of print]PMID: 21182789 |
| NCBI PubMed link | NCBI PubMed Publications |
| E-mail address | dkim@helix.mgh.harvard.edu |
| Lab mailing address |
MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease |
