One major goal of research in the Delventhal lab is to uncover molecular mechanisms that underlie the physiological and behavioral changes observed in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. To do this, we use a model of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) to induce neurodegenerative phenotypes in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. We are interested in measuring the physiological, behavioral, and molecular changes that occur over time following an early-life TBI event. We aim to better understand the kinetics of these TBI-induced changes, and how they interact with aging processes, in the short-, mid- and long-term periods of time following an injury. Furthermore, we hypothesize that brain injury triggers changes that may occur in many common neurodegenerative diseases, and we hope to identify and study how these molecular pathways to the deterioration of the nervous system.

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