Department of Internal Medicine
Immunology Faculty
Graduate School:
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Harvard University
Fellowship:
University of California,
San Francisco
Gloria Lee, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Our laboratory studies tau protein, a microtubule associated protein that is critical to axonal development and is also the primary component of the neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer's disease. We are currently investigating newly discovered interactions of tau that suggest a role for tau in signal transduction. We have found that tau interacts with non-receptor src family tyrosine kinases and is tyrosine phosphorylated. We hypothesize that the phosphorylation of tau controls its ability to associate with other components activated during neuronal cell differentiation. We are investigating tau's role in signal transduction in cultured neuronal cell systems that respond to growth factors. We are also investigating the role of tyrosine phosphorylation of tau in tangle formation in mouse models for neurodegenerative disease. In addition, other age-related inherited neurodegenerative diseases have been shown to be due to missense mutations in tau and to mutations that alter tau alternative splicing. We are investigating the function of these mutant forms of tau and the consequences of overproduction of the disease related tau isoforms.
Honors, Awards, and Organizations
- American Society for Cell Biologists
- Society for Neuroscience
- American Cancer Society Post-doctoral Fellow 1982-83
- Phi Beta Kappa
Recent Publications
- Sharma, V.M., Litersky, J.M., Bhaskar, K., and Lee, G. Tau impacts on growth factor stimulated actin remodeling. J Cell Sci. 120:748-57, 2007.
- Sarkar, M., Kuret, J., and Lee, G. Two motifs within the tau microtubule-binding domain mediate its association with the hsc70 molecular chaperone. J Neurosci Res. 86:2763-73, 2008.
- Souter, S. and Lee, G. Microtubule-associated protein tau in human prostate cancer cells: Isoforms, phosphorylation, and interactions. J Cellular Biochem. 108:555-64, 2009.
- Leugers, C.J. and Lee, G. Tau potentiates NGF-induced MAPK signaling and neurite initiation without a requirement for microtubule binding. J Biol Chem, 285:19125-34, 2010.
- Bhaskar, K., Hobbs, G.A., Yen, S.-H., and Lee, G. Tyrosine phosphorylation of tau accompanies disease progression in transgenic mouse models of tauopathy. Neuropath App Neurobiol 36:462-77, 2010.
Links of Interest