Welcome to the Pruett Lab!
Targeting Molecular Changes in Schizophrenia Brain
We are interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms in the brain associated with the serious mental illness schizophrenia. In particular, we are focused on brain energy metabolism and intracellular pH regulation changes that may underlie deficits in protein modification and trafficking. We utilize postmortem human brain tissue to identify molecular changes, then interrogate the impact of these changes in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived culture models. Our ultimate goal is to identify deficits that can be targeted and potentially normalized in order to develop novel schizophrenia treatments.
Confocal Microscopy of Na+/H+ exchanger 9 (NHE9) and Rab7 (late endsome marker) co-labeling in neuroprogenitor cells with 60x objective. Maximum intensity projection of merged immunofluorescence of NHE9 (red), Rab7 (green), and nuclear stain DAPI (blue) demonstrating 55% co-localization of NHE9 with Rab7.
