Dokholyan Laboratory
Alzheimer's Disease
We investigate how APOE isoforms and lipidation state shape amyloid-beta clearance, aggregation, tau pathology, neuroinflammation, and synaptic vulnerability in Alzheimer's disease. Building on Dokholyan laboratory work on APOE structure and Aβ42 oligomerization, we combine molecular modeling with structural and cellular perspectives to identify the mechanisms that connect lipid homeostasis to disease progression. This work highlights APOE lipidation and the ABCA1 pathway as potential upstream intervention points for precision therapies.
Research focus
01 / 04About the laboratory
We are a translational systems research group at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
Dokholyan laboratory is engaged in translational research with a focus on neurodegeneration and cancer. Our laboratory utilizes several integrated computational and experimental strategies to understand, sense (recognize and report), and control aberrant biological molecules, and uncover etiologies of human diseases.
For the past two decades, Dokholyan laboratory has been developing approaches to molecular structural modeling and dynamic simulations, allowing study of structure and dynamics of biological molecules at time scales relevant to biological systems. These approaches uniquely integrate rapid physical dynamics simulations, experiments, and molecular modeling and design.
Our current focus includes understanding the molecular basis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and developing novel therapeutic strategies.