Award
Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs 5I01BX003168-09
Role of BET proteins in neuroinflammation in tauopathy
Recipient
Veterans Health Administration
Awarded
October 02, 2025
Identifier
5I01BX003168-09
The award supports research on the role of BET protein Brd4 in neuroinflammation related to tauopathies, aiming to develop targeted therapeutics using zebrafish and mammalian models.
Description
This project aims to elucidate the role of Brd4 in tauopathy and develop Brd4-targeted therapeutics through innovative in vivo imaging, gene expression analysis, and pharmacological testing in zebrafish and mammalian models. The study hypothesizes that Brd4, a BET protein, is essential for microglial activation and synapse elimination in tauopathy and is a therapeutic target. It will use zebrafish models with fluorescent microglia, intravital imaging, gene expression analysis, and pharmacological testing of bromodomain inhibitors, including those in clinical trials, to evaluate their efficacy in preventing neuroinflammation and tau pathology. Successful candidates will be tested in mammalian models for translational potential.