Gut
This neurotransmitter associated with happiness is produced largely in the gut, about 90% of it.
What is serotonin?
This liquid portion of blood carries nutrients, hormones, proteins, and is frequently used in our studies.
What is plasma?
This region of the brain is responsible for forming new memories and is affected early in Alzheimer’s disease.
What is the Hippocampus?
This type of artificial intelligence system is trained on large datasets to recognize patterns and make predictions.
What is machine learning?
The lab collectively has this many cats.
What is 6.
This trillions-strong community of bacteria, fungi, and viruses living in your digestive tract influences digestion, immunity, mood, and maybe even Parkinson's disease.
What is the gut microbiome?
This protein aggregates to form Lewy bodies, a hallmark pathology of Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Poston is working on an assay to detect it in peripheral tissues too.
What is Alpha-synuclein?
These brain immune cells help clear debris and respond to injury or infection.
What are microglia?
This imaging technique uses radioactive tracers to visualize biological processes such as glucose metabolism or amyloid deposition in the brain.
What is Positron Emission Tomography (PET)?
In the Poston lab space there are this many office chairs.
What is 8?
This nerve, the longest cranial nerve in the body, forms a major communication highway between the gut and the brain.
What is the vagus nerve?
This toxic peptide that forms plaques in Alzheimer’s disease can now be measured in plasma to estimate brain amyloid burden.
What is amyloid-beta?
This staging system describes how Parkinson’s disease pathology spreads through the brain over time.
What is Braak staging?
This dopamine transporter imaging technique uses SPECT to visualize dopaminergic neuron loss in Parkinson’s disease.
What is DaTscan?
The color of the yoga mat under Dimuthu's desk.
What is purple?
Inflammation or imbalance of gut microbes is commonly called this two-word condition.
What is gut dysbiosis?
These signaling molecules found in blood, including IL-6 and TNF-α, are associated with systemic inflammation and neurodegenerative disease.
What are cytokines?
These star-shaped support cells help maintain the blood–brain barrier and regulate neurotransmitters.
What are astrocytes?
Researchers use this concept to describe coordinated activity between different brain regions detected in imaging studies.
What is functional connectivity?
This person in the lab has the next closest birthday.
Who is Sara?
These neurons embedded within the gastrointestinal tract make up the “second brain” of the body.
What is the enteric nervous system?
This genetic risk factor detectable in blood testing significantly increases the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
What is APOE ε4?
This selective barrier protects the brain by regulating which molecules in the bloodstream can enter neural tissue.
What is the Blood–brain barrier?
This MRI-based method maps white matter pathways and structural connectivity in the brain.
What is functional connectivity?
The year Dr. Poston started her lab.
What is 2009?