Dr. Maria Figueiredo-Pereira is investigating the causes of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases as well as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. She is addressing the link between two hallmarks of these disorders: inflammation and protein aggregation. In cells, abnormal and damaged proteins generated by mutations and/or toxic environmental factors are removed by the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway. Defects in this elimination process cause protein aggregation. The focus of the lab is to investigate how products of inflammation impair the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway leading to protein aggregation and neurodegeneration. The ultimate goal of this NIH funded research is to discover novel targets for therapeutic intervention to prevent/treat these major neurodegenerative disorders.