Jessica Chedid

Jessica is a postgraduate research student. Born and raised in Lebanon, she graduated from the Lebanese University with a Master’s degree in molecular neuroscience. Currently she is enrolled as a full-time PhD student at the University of Sydney Brain and Mind Centre researching Parkinson’s disease.

Forefront Group: Dementia and Movement Disorder (DAMD) Lab

Supervisors:

Dr Nicolas Dzamko and Prof Glenda Halliday

Expertise:

  • Neuropathology
  • Synucleopathies
  • Molecular biology
  • Autophagy flux quantification

Affiliate Organisations:

USyd, Brain and Mind Centre, Northern Clinical School

Neurodegeneration of interest:

PD, MND, AD

Specific Skills:

  • Molecular Biologist
  • Immunofluorescence imaging
  • Cell culture scientist
  • Image analysis
  • Statistical analysis

Project - The role of autophagy in TLR-2 mediated alpha-synuclein accumulation in neurons

Disease area:

PD

Research Project Description

  • Induction of TLR-2 mediated alpha-synuclein pathology in SH-SY5Y cells.
  • Potentiation of alpha-synuclein fibrils pathology by TLR-2 activation in SH-SY5Y cells.
    • - This is studied by western blotting of proteins from cell lysates and bi immunofluorescent microscopy.
  • Generation CRISPR-cas9 gene edited TLR2_knockout cells to validate the role of TLR2 in alpha synuclein pathology.
  • The effect of TLR-2 activation on macroautophagy
    • - This studied by monitoring autophagy markers such as P62/SQSTM1, LC3 and LAMP2 by immunofluorescent microscopy and western blot analysis and dynamic autophagic flux measurement assays (GFP-RFP-LC3 tandem sensor).
  • Induction of TLR-2 mediated alpha-synuclein pathology in Induced pluripotent stem cell derived neurons obtained from PD patients.
  • Uncovering the cellular pathways by which TLR-2 activation causes alteration in autophagy and alpha-synuclein pathology using RNA-seq.