Yuan Lin

B.S. in Biochemistry, Nanjing University

Thesis Advisor:  C. Glenn Lin

E-Mail:  lin.691@osu.edu

Research:

I am interested in the role of EAAT2, a glial glutamate transporter, in some neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Epilepsy and visceral pain. EAAT2 plays a major role in transporting excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate from the synaptic cleft to the glial cell body. Dysfunction of EAAT2 protein may increase the synaptic glutamate concentration and cause the excitatory death of neuron, which has been found in many neurodegenerative diseases such as AD, ALS and others.

By targeting glutamate transporters, we will generate new transgenic mice over expressing EAAT2 protein and test the hypothesis that whether increased EAAT2 can rescue the disease progress in animal models of AD, Epilepsy and visceral pain in order to find new potential therapies for these diseases. Also, we will investigate the molecular mechanism by which EAAT2 improves the disease pathology. The potential chemicals that can induce EAAT2 expression will also be tested both in vitro and in vivo.

Publications:

Tian G, Lai L, Guo H, Lin Y, Butchbach ME, Chang Y, and Lin CL (2007) Translational control of glial glutamate transporter EAAT2 expression. J Biol Chem. 282(3):1727-37.