Naomi Visanji, PhD

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Affiliate Scientist, Krembil Research Institute (Krembil)

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5968-7845
Keywords: progressive supranuclear palsy, animal models, neuropathology, alpha-synuclein, Parkinson disease

Dr. Naomi Visanji is an Affiliate Scientist in the Division of Experimental & Translational Neuroscience at Krembil Research Institute, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on the use of postmortem human tissues and animal models to probe the pathobiology of proteins associated with neurodegenerative disease.

She received her BSc Hons in Neuroscience from the University of Nottingham (UK) and completed her PhD in Pharmacology at King's College London (UK). She has published over 50 peer reviewed publications. She is also a Senior Scientist at Rosetta Therapeutics, a University of Toronto/MaRS Innovation UTEST startup developing new molecular matter as leads for the cure of neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Visanji leads the in vivo research arm of the Rossy Program for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy at the Krembil Research Institute and the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases. Her research goals are to create a sophisticated animal model that recapitulates the full spectrum of pathology exhibited in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy to study the anatomic and cytopathologic diversity in the disease, identify the factors that contribute to disease etiology, and provide a platform for the future testing of novel therapeutics.

Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) is a devastating and fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by the abnormal accumulation of the protein tau in different cell types in select vulnerable regions of the brain. It currently has no effective treatment. There is no animal model of PSP that replicates the hallmark pathological features of the disease, limiting our understanding of disease pathogenesis and preventing the testing of novel therapies.

Our research program aims to create a sophisticated animal model of PSP. We will use human postmortem brain material donated by patients in the Rossy Program for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy at Toronto Western Hospital to generate an animal model that replicates the full spectrum of pathology exhibited in PSP. Once established, this innovative model will provide a springboard for an array of future work, including 1) studying the role of different cell types in the spreading of tauopathy in PSP, 2) identifying factors implicated in the cause of PSP and critically, and 3) testing novel disease-modifying therapeutics.

Prioritising Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

Study Status: Active
Study Purpose: To develop an animal model of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP).
Background: Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) is a deadly disease of the brain with no cure. By studying the brains of patients who have died, scientists have discovered that brains with PSP contain toxic deposits of the protein tau. Tau deposits in brains with PSP are seen in both nerve cells and support cells, called glia. These neuronal and glial deposits of tau have a special pattern of distribution in different areas of the brain that is unique to PSP and allows scientists to identify patients with PSP from patients with other diseases that also involve tau deposition. To better understand the causes of PSP and to test new treatments, scientists need to use animal models, but there are no animal models that have the unique pattern of tau deposits in the neurons and glia in different regions that is seen in human brains with PSP. Our study is designed to develop the first animal model of PSP with the same pattern of tau deposits as in a human brain.
Study Methods: We will use human brains donated for research by PSP patients who have died. Toxic tau protein samples will be collected from areas of the PSP patients’ brains that have the unique tau deposits in neurons or glia. These samples will be injected into the brains of specialised mice whose brains contain the same form of tau as the human brain. Matching the brain region that the toxic tau sample is taken from to the same region of the mouse brain has never been done before. We hope that this matching helps us better model the deposition of toxic tau in human brains. If successful, this better model can then be used to study 1) the underlying causes of toxic tau, 2) the spread of toxic tau throughout the brain and 3) testing of future treatments for this incurable and devastating disease.

 

For a list of Dr. Visanji's publications, please visit PubMed, Scopus, or ORCID.

Affiliate Scientist, Krembil Research Institute (Krembil)

Assistant Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology, University of Toronto
Principal Investigator, Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto.