Mark Cookson
Lead PI (Core Leadership)
National Institute on Aging
Mark is the chief of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics, part of the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. His interest in Parkinson’s disease genetics stems from work as a postdoc with John Hardy first at Mayo clinic Jacksonville then at NIH.
Recent ASAP Preprints & Published Papers
Regulation of mitophagy by the NSL complex underlies genetic risk for Parkinson’s disease at 16q11.2 and MAPT H1 loci
Impaired mitophagy is a key causative pathway in familial Parkinson’s disease, but its relevance to idiopathic Parkinson’s disease is unclear. We used a mitophagy screening assay to evaluate the functional significance of risk genes identified through genome-wide association studies. We identified two new regulators of PINK1-dependent mitophagy initiation, KAT8 and…
LRRK2 kinase activity regulates GCase level and enzymatic activity differently depending on cell type in Parkinson’s disease
Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is a kinase involved in different cellular functions, including autophagy, endolysosomal pathways, and immune function. Mutations in LRRK2 cause autosomal-dominant forms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Heterozygous mutations in GBA1, the gene encoding the lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GCase), are the most common genetic risk factors for…
