West, Nicole MS

Basal forebrain cholinergic neurons (BFCNs) are important for arousal, attention, learning, and memory, and they are prone to degeneration in Down syndrome (DS) and other neurodegenerative diseases. The F99 proposal will determine if there are fewer BFCNs at birth in DS and utilize iPSC models while the K00 proposal will expand this work to determine the temporal order of pathology accumulation in the DS basal forebrain and identify molecular mechanisms that may contribute to BFCN susceptibility. A better understanding of the role of BFCNs in disease progression may improve DS and other neurodegenerative disease models as well as elucidate novel therapeutic targets.