Jang-Ho Cha, MD, PhD
Dr. Cha has been investigating neurotransmitter receptor alteration in transgenic mouse models of Huntington's disease.
Decreases in receptors are the first demonstrable pathologic changes in HD in mouse models, perhaps then contributing to subsequent neurodegeneration.
His lab is also extending the analysis of neurotransmitter receptor alterations to other transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease and ALS in collaborations with other MIND investigators. A collaboration with Dr. Robert Friedlander (BWH) showed that inhibition of caspase could slow disease progression HD mice.
Dr. Cha’s lab first described mRNA alterations in transgenic HD mice, leading to the hypothesis that transcriptional dysregulation is a central mechanism in HD. He is currently following this new lead at the molecular level.
He also sees patients in the Movement Disorders and Memory Disorders units at MGH.
Supplementary Data for Benn et al., J Neurosci 2008
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