Shiron Drusinsky is a fourth year undergraduate student studying Neuroscience (B.S.) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is interested in studying the pathological role of mitochondrial transport in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis. Mitochondria function as robust sources of energy and are essential for neuronal health and synaptic transmission. Mitochondrial transport additionally functions as a crucial mechanism by which neurons deliver mitochondria to energy deficient regions along their extended axons and return dysfunctional mitochondria to the cell body for turnover. Thus, deficits in this transport could have damaging ramifications for neurons. Indeed, mitochondrial transport aberrations have been implicated in aging and various neurodegenerative disorders, particularly AD, but this has not been thoroughly demonstrated in humans nor animal models of AD. Using a recently developed method (Vagnoni & Bullock 2016), Shiron is studying the dynamics of mitochondrial transport in the flat and transparent wings AD model Drosophila (fruit flies). This will allow him to study changes in mitochondrial transport throughout aging and non-invasively, which are not simultaneously possible in other models. He hopes to A) discover whether or not mitochondrial transport deficits arise in adult AD model Drososphila; and, if so, B) determine how the onset of these mitochondrial transport deficits temporally correlate to disease progression; and C) characterize the mechanism(s) by which these transport deficits are conferred in Drosophila AD-like pathology.
In his free time, Shiron enjoys windsurfing, sailing, and exercising.