Zebrafish and Alzheimer's Disease
We are excited to share a collaborative study, published in Cell Reports: "Topoisomerase I inhibition yields a CD74high/MHChigh human microglial subtype with enhanced Aβ uptake" (Haage et al., 2026). Congratulations to all authors, and especially to first author Verena Haage and senior author Philip De Jager for leading this effort. Thanks as well to our …
Continue reading "Recreating a human microglial state with a drug: new publication in Cell Reports"
We are excited to share our latest study, published today in Nature Aging, identifying astrocyte-derived fibronectin (FN1) as a key mechanistic driver of blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease — and a proximal mediator of the risk conferred by the APOE ε4 allele. Building on our earlier work showing that a rare, protective loss-of-function …
The Kizil Lab is pleased to participate in the European Zebrafish Meeting (EZM 2026) in Vienna, Austria. During the meeting, we presented our latest research, engaged in stimulating discussions with colleagues from across the international zebrafish community, and had the privilege of chairing sessions on disease models. The conference once again highlighted the remarkable versatility …
Continue reading "Kizil Lab at European Zebrafish Meeting 2026"
We are pleased to share our latest collaborative publication in Alzheimer's & Dementia, a study led by Dr. Christiane Reitz. The work identifies PHLPP1 as a shared genetic locus, providing new insights into the biological mechanisms linking cerebrovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease and highlighting the importance of studying diverse populations in neurogenetics. Ray NR, Kurup …
Continue reading "New Publication: Shared Genetic Risk Between Alzheimer’s Disease and Stroke"
Huge congratulations to our outstanding student, Rania Awad! We are incredibly proud of her remarkable achievement and the dedication she has shown to her training. Her hard work, curiosity, and passion for science shine through in this accomplishment. On March 21st, high school senior Rania Awad competed at the final round of the Terra NYC …
Continue reading "Our student Rania Awad Receives Grand Award at Terra NYC STEM Fair"
Our associate research scientist, Dr. Prabesh Bhattarai, was recently featured on the Research Renaissance podcast, where he spoke with host Deborah Westphal about how regenerative biology could open new doors for Alzheimer's treatment. Dr. Bhattarai discussed how zebrafish are able to regenerate neurons lost to Alzheimer's-like damage and why humans and mice can't do the …
We are happy to announce a new preprint from the Kizil Lab, led by first author Elanur Yilmaz, titled “Single‑nucleus multiomics in brains from Hispanic individuals reveal APOE‑ε4‑driven disruption of focal adhesion signaling in the presence of cerebrovascular pathology.” In this study, our team analyzed 413,175 single nuclei from 52 postmortem brains with high cerebrovascular …
We are excited to share a new preprint from the Kizil Lab titled "APOE‑ε4‑induced Fibronectin at the blood‑brain barrier is a conserved pathological mediator of disrupted astrocyte–endothelia interaction in Alzheimer’s disease." In this study, we uncover a previously unknown mechanism by which the APOE‑ε4 allele—one of the strongest genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease—disrupts brain …
We are excited to share our new study on the role of the ABCA7 gene in brain resilience against Alzheimer’s. Published in Cell Genomics, we found that ABCA7 is crucial for maintaining synaptic health by regulating neuropeptide Y (NPY), a key molecule for brain communication and repair. Loss of ABCA7 reduces NPY, weakening the brain's …
Continue reading "Our study about ABCA7-dependent genetic risk in Alzheimer’s disease is published"
We are glad to announce that we received a Translational Therapeutics Accelerator (TRx) Pilot Award, which provides resources to position therapeutic discoveries for future commercial value. This was a project entitled "Multitarget drugs for therapeutic use in Alzheimer's disease " spearheaded by Dr. Turgutalp at our lab. Congratulations!
