Background pattern of a brain with neural connections
Ashley Harms

Ashley Harms

Co-PI (Core Leadership)

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Ashley S. Harms, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the Department of Neurology and the Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics. As a dedicated neuroimmunologist, Dr. Harms studies the cellular and immunological mechanisms underlying the initiation and progression of alpha-synucleinopathy disorders, with emphasis on antigen presentation. Utilizing novel genetic and viral model approaches to study the role of immune cell subsets, her lab focuses on how the protein alpha-synuclein contributes to microglial activation, peripheral immune cell infiltration, and subsequent activation of the immune response in Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy.

Teams

Kordower Sulzer

Themes

Circuitry and Brain-Body Interactions

Tags

AAV (Adenoassociated Virus)

Recent ASAP Preprints & Published Papers

Alpha-synuclein overexpression can drive microbiome dysbiosis in mice

Growing evidence indicates that persons living with Parkinson disease (PD), have a unique composition of indigenous gut microbes. Given the long prodromal or pre-diagnosed period, longitudinal studies of the human and rodent gut microbiome prior to symptomatic onset and for the duration of the disease period are currently lacking. PD…

Border-associated macrophages mediate the neuroinflammatory response in an alpha-synuclein model of Parkinson disease

Dopaminergic cell loss due to the accumulation of α-syn is a core feature of the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease. Neuroinflammation specifically induced by α-synuclein has been shown to exacerbate neurodegeneration, yet the role of central nervous system (CNS) resident macrophages in this process remains unclear. We found that a specific…

Team Kordower

Jeffrey Kordower

Jeffrey Kordower

Lead PI (Core Leadership)
Ashley Harms

Ashley Harms

Co-PI (Core Leadership)
Warren Hirst

Warren Hirst

Co-PI (Core Leadership)
Hayla Ollison

Hayla Ollison

Project Manager

Team Sulzer

David Sulzer

David Sulzer

Lead PI (Core Leadership)
Cecilia Arlehamn

Cecilia Arlehamn

Co-PI (Core Leadership)
Ashley Harms

Ashley Harms

Co-PI (Core Leadership)
Sarkis Mazmanian

Sarkis Mazmanian

Co-PI (Core Leadership)
April Frazier

April Frazier

Project Manager

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