Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease are diseases caused when proteins abnormally fold and aggregate in specific cell types of the central nervous system. The Khurana Lab, based in the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, uses cutting-edge stem cell, genome-editing and in situ proteomic techniques to study how these hallmark protein-misfolding pathologies are related to genetic factors that predispose to these diseases, and how they may be reversed (Chung*, Khurana* et al. Science 2013; Khurana et al., Nature Reviews Neurology 2015). The lab focuses in particular on Parkinson’s disease, multiple system atrophy, ataxias and related disorders.

Two recent publications (Khurana*, Peng*, Chung* et al. Cell Systems 2017; Chung*, Khurana* et al. Cell Systems 2017) create proteome-scale maps from the genetic and physical interactors of misfolding proteins in tractable cellular models of neurodegenerative disease. The Khurana lab is developing the requisite tools to establish these maps in different subtypes of patient stem cell-derived neurons and glia. We have amassed a test-set of stem cell lines and genetic data, through which we hope to contribute to emerging efforts to match therapies to stratified patient populations