Juliette J. Kahle, Graduate Student

Phone: 713-798-7827
E-mail: juliette.kahle@bcm.edu

Joined the lab: 2005

Project: Investigation of Protein-Protein Interactions in the Pathogenesis of Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 and 7

This project involves expanding on the ataxia disease based interactome published by our lab. SCA6 and SCA7 both have unique features that make them interesting to me. SCA7 patients have macular degeneration. SCA6 is caused by a mutation in a calcium channel subunit, CACNA1A, which is also mutated in other diseases.
I am using multiple bait fragments in a high-throughput, high-stringency yeast 2-hybrid screen to identify protein-protein and/or maintenance of neuronal health. I am validating the interactors identified and following-up on some of the proteins that I find most interesting.

Selected publication:

Bowman, A.B., Lam, Y.C., Jafar-Nejad, P., Chen, H.K., Richman, R., Samaco, R.C., Fryer, J.D., Kahle, J.J., Orr, H.T., Zoghbi, H.Y. Duplication of Atxn1l suppresses SCA1 neuropathology by decreasing incorporation of polyglutamine-expanded ataxin-1 into native complexes. Nat Genet. 2007 Mar;39 (3): 373-379.