Sarah Heuer

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of age-related dementia, but the underlying causal mechanisms of AD neurodegenerative phenotypes are relatively unknown. Microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system, are known to participate in pruning of neuronal synapses under homeostatic conditions, and produce diverse activation states in the AD brain with relatively unknown consequence. By combining the Howell lab's expertise in mouse genetics and neurodegeneration, my background in immunology and genetics, and collaborative resources at JAX and Tufts, I am investigating how states of activated microglia cause susceptibility to neurodegenerative phenotypes at the level of the neuronal synapse.