Guangmei Liu, a Biology PhD student in the McCall Lab, received the Brenton R. Lutz Award.
Guangmei’s research focuses on glial dysfunction and its role in neurodegenerative diseases. Her work leverages a Drosophila model in which the phagocytic receptor Draper is knocked down in glia, leading to age-dependent neurodegeneration. She has identified a distinct pattern of neuronal vulnerability, with degeneration clustering in specific brain regions. Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing, she has uncovered key molecular mechanisms underlying this susceptibility, including widespread activation of innate immune signaling pathways and chronic neuroinflammation. In this model, glial cells adopt a pro-inflammatory state, peripheral immune cells (hemocytes) attempt to infiltrate the brain. To counteract neurodegeneration, she is conducting a targeted genetic screen to modulate immune signaling in neurons, glia, and hemocytes.
Notably, knocking down Relish, a key transcription factor in the innate immune signaling pathway, in glia and the fat body—but not neurons—significantly reduces neurodegenerative vacuoles. These findings suggest that impaired phagocytosis in draper mutants drives neuroinflammation and selective neuronal vulnerability in the aging brain. By dissecting the interplay between glial dysfunction and immune activation at a systems level, our work provides insight into how neuronal vulnerability arises during neurodegeneration and identifies potential therapeutic targets to disrupt the cycle of inflammation and neuronal loss.
Congrats Guangmei!