Dr. Michael Levin MD, FAAN, FANA, Neuroscience Cluster Associate Member
The long-term goal of research in the Levin Lab is to better understand the cause of neurodegeneration, a salient feature and cause of permanent disability in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. For more than 20 years, we have studied the function of the RNA binding protein heterogeneous nuclear ribonuclear protein A1 (hnRNP A1 -‘A1’), with a focus on ‘M9’. M9 is A1’s nucleocytoplasmic transport domain, and is required for transport of A1 between the nucleus and cytoplasm. Our lab has discovered that MS patients make antibodies to M9 and the brains and lymphocytes of MS patients contain somatic DNA mutations within M9