Mingxue Gu, Ph.D.

JAD profile

Affiliation(s): 

Baylor College of Medicine

Lab URL: 

https://flypush.research.bcm.edu/lab/index.html

ORCID URL: 

https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0002-7132-7284

Areas of Interest: 

Neurodegeneration; Molecular Biology; Amyloid; Dementia; Aging and Cognition

Biography & Research: 

My research experience has mostly been focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neurological disorders. As an undergraduate, I conducted research in the Zhang Lab at Peking University to dissect the functions of genes and small molecules underlying neuronal pathology in Alzheimer’s disease. During my graduate training in the Xu Lab at the University of Michigan, I have been studying the physiology of ion channels in the intracellular membranes and the homeostasis of intraorganellar Ca2+ using a combination of molecular genetics techniques with multiple quantitative approaches. I have combined electrophysiological and imaging approaches typically used to study plasma membrane ion channels with molecular and biochemical approaches typically used in studies of organelle physiology and functions. Building on my Ph.D. training in lysosomal physiology, I'm currently studying the role of lysosomal proteins in the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease in vivo using Drosophila Melanogaster as a model organism in the Bellen Lab at Baylor College of Medicine. I aim to develop a comprehensive understanding on how lysosomal signaling pathways and lysosome physiology contribute to neurologic and neurodegenerative diseases.