Professor Stuart Newfeld talks about the association of apolipoprotein ApoB with dementia in a guest lecture

April 2nd at 14:00, a lecture by Fulbright Scholar guest professor Stuart Newfeld will take place in the Omicum auditorium 105 on the topic „ApoB is the oldest human Apolipoprotein and its fly homolog ApoLpp transits the adult blood brain barrier then accumulates near Myoglianin expressing glia“.

Professor Stuart Newfeld is visiting the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Tartu as part of the Fulbright Scholar program from March 25 to May 25, 2025. His home university is Arizona State University (School of Life Sciences).

Vascular dementia affects almost a third of people over age 70. Affected individuals have a five-year survival rate that is half of normal individuals. The proximate cause of cognitive impairment is a series of small strokes that lead to irreversible neuronal damage. The causes of these small strokes are not well understood at the molecular level.

To study the causes of such strokes, Professor Newfeld's research group uses temperature-shift experiments with humanized Drosophila. These flies express a human gene that rescues the lethality of a mutation in its fly counterpart at a permissive temperature. Shifting these flies to the non-permissive temperature mimics a somatic mutation in the human gene.

Stuart Newfeld has been engaged in molecular genetics for over 40 years. His emphasis on Drosophila Genetics began with his PhD and postdoc, then continued in his own lab. He has studied the mechanisms of intercellular communication. Since his postdoctoral work, his research has centered on the signaling mechanisms of secreted proteins within the Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGF-beta) family. These pathways are present in all multicellular animals. The importance of understanding these pathways is shown by what happens when they break. Mutations in TGF-beta signaling pathway components during fetal development can lead to lethal birth defects such as Autosomal Dominant Juvenile Polyposis. TGF-beta mutations during adulthood can lead to chronic diseases such as Pancreatic Cancer or Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

Professor Newfeld has made significant progress in these topics, and in recognition of this, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012 for his distinguished contributions to the field of molecular genetics.