Research interest
Ringaile is interested in exploring the role of endogenous DNA damage in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), specifically how TDP43 and FUS pathology leads to neuronal death. TDP43 and FUS have been shown to exhibit nuclear clearance and subsequent cytoplasmic aggregation in ALS patients, while TDP43 was also recently implicated in the DNA damage response. In addition, she is using a Parkinson’s disease PARK7-deficient model in order to determine how PARK7 contributes to the neuronal phenotype in humans and how it is involved in the recognition and repair of endogenous DNA damage.
In the Balmus lab, Ringaile is using CRISPR/Cas9 and drug screens in human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that model ALS and Parkinson’s to understand the role that endogenous DNA damage has in these diseases.
Ringaile hopes to identify positive or negative modifiers of these disease genes, which could be used as targets in the future therapy of ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases.
