Mr. Abhinaba Ghosh Supervisor: Dr. Qi Yuan
Mr. Ghosh was awarded a 2019 ARC-NL Graduate Fellowship for his project entitled,
Pathogensis and Prognosis of Aging-related Cognitive Decline with Pretangle Human Tau in the Locus Coreuleus: Identifying the Differential Roles of the Brain’s Noradrenergic Activity Patterns in a Novel Rate Model Through Optogenetics.
ARC-NL: What piqued your interest in this area of research?
Both globally and in Canada, dementia in the aging population is a long-standing problem. The emotional, societal and the collective financial burden of it is increasing fast. This brought my attention to this area and I intend to keep working in this field with a hope of bringing meaningful changes.
ARC-NL: Can you please provide a brief synopsis of your specific project?
During my PhD in the Yuan lab at MUN, we established a novel model of Alzheimer’s disease. Our work provided the first-ever experimental evidence of a hypothesis in the field about the initiation and the early stage of the disease process. In a follow up effort, in the same model, other lab members and I tried to rescue the brain from the disease process by using novel intervention methods. Our results are highly encouraging and are currently undergoing dissemination process.
ARC-NL: How did getting the support of the ARC-NL Graduate Fellowship assist you with your project?
Research students and trainees face many different obstacles, financial hardship is certainly one of them. Getting financially supported by ARC-NL helped me focus more on the research itself. I am thankful to ARC-NL for choosing me for this fellowship. I hope there will be more support available for the applicants in the near future. We are in dire need of money and workforce to accelerate the research and innovation in the field.
ARC-NL: How do you feel your research will benefit the aging population of Newfoundland and Labrador? Canada?
By design, there is always a delay in translating laboratory findings to therapeutic interventions. This delay ensures safety of the patients and efficacy of the therapy. I am very hopeful that our current research and follow up work will eventually bring new insight in prevention and cure of Alzheimer's disease. In the long run, this will benefit the aging population of the province and the country as well.
ARC-NL: Is there any past experience that you feel is pertinent to your success today?
Although this research is purely preclinical, my clinical background and past experience in the clinics help me identify important problems and potentially important solutions. To date, the perspective of clinical relevance is guiding me in my journey in preclinical research.