Chien-Liang Lin, PhD
Professor
Neuroscience
Academic information
- Department: Neuroscience
Research interests
- Neurodegenerative Diseases
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Drug Discovery and Development
- Glutamate Transporters
- Glutamatergic Synapses
About
Biography
Our research focuses on studying the role of glutamate transporter EAAT2 in the regulation of synaptic function and plasticity and in the pathogenesis of neurological disorders. Over the past few years, we have been greatly engaged in a drug discovery project and have successfully translated our basic findings to potential therapeutic agents. We discovered a series of novel small-molecules that can increase EAAT2 expression via a novel translational activation mechanism. These small-molecules have great potential for multiple neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease. This project is currently at the pre-clinical development phase. In addition, we have been focusing on uncovering the molecular mechanism of action of these small-molecules and have identified a novel pathway regulating the structural and functional plasticity of tripartite glutamatergic synapses.
Credentials
Education
- Postdoctoral Training
- Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
- PhD - Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
- Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
Research
Research interests
- Neurodegenerative Diseases
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Drug Discovery and Development
- Glutamate Transporters
- Glutamatergic Synapses
Research Approaches
We (1) use animal models for the study of human diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, epilepsy, Gulf War illness, and anxiety/depression, (2) apply many behavioral tests to assess cognition, anxiety, depression, and fatigue, (3) generate transgenic mice to investigate the molecular mechanism of action of our small-molecules, and (4) utilize many techniques to uncover the underlying mechanisms of the disease, including transcriptome analysis, proteomic analysis, Western blotting, dissociated primary culture, iPSC culture, and immunohistochemistry.