>> Jonathan Grima: So imagine you work
in a big city where everyone commutes.
The only way to get to the
city, is over a bridge.
You're driving along, during
a busy morning commute,
and suddenly monsters
start attacking the bridge
and the other cars around you.
Not only is the Mayor
stuck in the traffic jam
beside you, but there's
the Chief of Police,
the head of the electric
company, and others.
Now what do you think is going
to happen to the city that day?
Clearly, it's not going
to function very well,
and will eventually shut down.
Now while this is a bizarre scenario,
this is actually similar to
what we believe happens in the
brain cells of people with
neurodegenerative diseases.
Such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons,
ALS, and Huntingtons disease.
These are horrific illnesses
that cause brain cells to die.
And today, more than
8,000,000 Americans suffer
from a neurodegenerative disease.
Now let's go back to our somewhat
atypical morning commute.
In this analogy, think of the
city as the nucleus of a cell,
and the surrounding area as the cytoplasm.
The bridge is the nuclear
pore complex, that physically
connects the nucleus to
the cytoplasm, and directly
controls the trafficking
of important information.
Work from our lab shows
that neurodegenerative
disease-causing agents are the
monsters that destroy these
bridges, leading to traffic
jams of essential information.
Thus, the entire cell, like
the city in our analogy,
can't function properly and dies.
Yet, if these disease causing agents
are found throughout the entire body,
why is it that only select brain cells die
in each neurodegenerative disease?
This work of our lab is trying
to figure out if there are specific
kinds of nuclear pore complexes
that are especially vulnerable.
Because just as there are
different kinds of bridges,
there is evidence of a wide variety
of nuclear pore complexes.
Once we can better characterize
the specific nuclear pore
complexes being affected,
we hope to use drugs to
restore their function.
Now, due to the high prevalence
of neurodegeneration,
chances are everyone here will
likely know someone affected.
For me, that was my grandfather
who had Alzheimer disease.
Alzheimers is a horrific
illness that robbed
him of his mind and his soul.
Not only did my grandfather
not remember what year it was,
but he could no longer recognize
my father, his only son.
You see, neurodegeneration
impacts not just millions
of patients, but also
their family and friends.
We believe that if we can
fix these traffic jams
caused by damaged nuclear pore complexes,
we could potentially provide
a treatment for people
with a variety of
neurodegenerative diseases.
And we sincerely hope
to make this a reality.
Because little do those monsters know,
Johns Hopkins fights back.
Thank you.
(audience applause)
