The Meyer lab, led by Jason Meyer, PhD, works to build better in vitro models to understand and treat neurodegenerative diseases through the use of human induced pluripotent stem cells. They primarily focus their studies on glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease as neurodegenerative diseases, with an emphasis upon neuron-intrinsic causes of neurodegeneration and how glial cells modulate neurodegenerative phenotypes. To accomplish these goals, they use tools and techniques including stem cells, organoids, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, RNA-seq, chemogenetics and more.
The lab has multiple research projects:
- Building in vitro models of the nervous system: Through the use of human pluripotent stem cell models, we have contributed to pioneering advances in the differentiation of stem cells into specific cell types of the central nervous system, as well as the formation of 3D microphysiological systems including organoids, assembloids, and microfluidic models of the nervous system.
- Modeling features of neurodegenerative diseases with stem cell models: We have generated human cellular models through the reprogramming of patient somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), as well as gene editing of cell lines by CRISPR/Cas9 methods. Using these cellular disease models, we have focused on neurodegenerative diseases including glaucoma, Alzheimer's disease, and Neurofibromatosis to identify cellular pathways misregulated in disease states.
- Assessing the role of glia in neuronal health and disease states: Glia of the central nervous system, particularly astrocytes and microglia, play a pivotal role in nervous system development and homeostasis, yet their interactions with neurons are misregulated in many neurodegenerative disease states. Through the differentiation of iPSCs to glial cell types, we establish and leverage powerful in vitro models to examine how these interactions are perturbed in disease states, and identify targets for therapeutic intervention in both neurons and glia.
