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null Peter McPherson, PhD

Brain Repair and Integrative Neuroscience (BRaIN) Program

Montreal Neurological Institute

Professor, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University

 

Keywords

endocytosis • neurons • membrane trafficking • neurogenerative disease • Parkinson's disease

Research Focus

My laboratory uses biochemical, molecular, structural, genetic and cellular approaches to identify and functionally characterize proteins that operate in protein trafficking in the endo/lysosomal system. Alterations in these cellular pathways lead to diseases including brain tumors and neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. Current projects in the lab reveal how disruption in transport of selective cargo from endosomes to the cell surface contributes to the development of glioblastoma, a neurodevelopmental disorder called DENND5A-mediated epileptic encephalopathy, and Parkinson's disease and ALS. Understanding the cell biological basis of neurological disease is a major focus of the laboratory.

I have also led, along with Research Scientist Carl Laflamme, an initiative called YCharOS (antibody characterization through open science) that teams with 14 major antibody manufacturers and knockout cell line providers to validate commercial antibodies against target proteins selected by funders. All data is rapidly transmitted to open sources (YCharOS and Zenodo) as part of a public good.

Selected Publications

Click on Pubmed to see my current publications list

  • Bayati A, Ayoubi R, Aguila A, Zorca CE, Deyab G, Han C, Recinto SJ, Nguyen-Renou E, Rocha C, Maussion G, Luo W, Shlaifer I, Banks E, McDowell I, Del Cid Pellitero E, Ding XE, Sharif B, Séguéla P, Yaqubi M, Chen CX, You Z, Abdian N, McBride HM, Fon EA, Stratton JA, Durcan TM, Nahirney PC, McPherson PS. Modeling Parkinson's disease pathology in human dopaminergic neurons by sequential exposure to α-synuclein fibrils and proinflammatory cytokines. Nat Neurosci. 2024 Oct 8. doi: 10.1038/s41593-024-01775-4. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39379564.

  • Banks E, Francis V, Lin SJ, Kharfallah F, Fonov V, Levesque M, Han C, Kulasekaran G, Tuznik M, Bayati A, Al-Khater R, Alkuraya FS, Argyriou L, Babaei M, Bahlo M, Bakhshoodeh B, Barr E, Bartik L, Bassiony M, Bertrand M, Braun D, Buchert R, Budetta M, Cadieux-Dion M, Calame D, Cope H, Cushing D, Efthymiou S, Elmaksoud MA, El Said HG, Froukh T, Gill HK, Gleeson JG, Gogoll L, Goh ES, Gowda VK, Haack TB, Hashem MO, Hauser S, Hoffman TL, Hogue JS, Hosokawa A, Houlden H, Huang K, Huynh S, Karimiani EG, Kaulfuß S, Korenke GC, Kritzer A, Lee H, Lupski JR, Marco EJ, McWalter K, Minassian A, Minassian BA, Murphy D, Neira-Fresneda J, Northrup H, Nyaga D, Oehl-Jaschkowitz B, Osmond M, Person R, Pehlivan D, Petree C, Sadleir LG, Saunders C, Schoels L, Shashi V, Spillman RC, Srinivasan VM, Torbati PN, Tos T; Undiagnosed Diseases Network; Zaki MS, Zhou D, Zweier C, Trempe JF, Durcan TM, Gan-Or Z, Avoli M, Alves C, Varshney GK, Maroofian R, Rudko DA, McPherson PS. Loss of symmetric cell division of apical neural progenitors drives DENND5A-related developmental and epileptic encephalopathy. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Jan 31:2022.08.23.22278845. doi: 10.1101/2022.08.23.22278845. Update in: Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 22;15(1):7239. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-51310-z. PMID: 38352438.

  • Aguila A, Salah S, Kulasekaran G, Shweiki M, Shaul-Lotan N, Mor-Shaked H, Daana M, Harel T, McPherson PS. A neurodevelopmental disorder associated with a loss-of-function missense mutation in RAB35. J Biol Chem. 2024 Apr;300(4):107124. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107124. Epub 2024 Mar 1. PMID: 38432637.

  • Kumar, R., Khan, M., Francis, V., Aguila, A., Kulasekaran, G., Banks, E., and McPherson, P.S. (2024). DENND6A links Arl8b to a Rab34/RILP/dynein complex, regulating lysosomal positioning and autophagy. Nature Communications 15:919. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-44957-1. PMID: 38296963.

  • Ayoubi R, Ryan J, Biddle MS, Alshafie W, Fotouhi M, Bolivar SG, Moleon VR, Eckmann P, Worrall D, McDowell I, Southern K, Reintsch W, Durcan TM, Brown CM, Bandrowski A, Virk HS, Edwards AM, McPherson PS, Laflamme C. Scaling of an antibody validation procedure enables quantification of antibody performance in major research applications. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Aug 17:2023.06.01.543292. doi: 10.1101/2023.06.01.543292. Update in: Elife. 2023 Nov 23;12:RP91645. doi: 10.7554/eLife.91645. PMID: 37398479.