Collin Nadarajah

Program: Neurosciences

Current advisor: Erik S. Musiek, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: Washington University, 2017

Enrollment year: 2019

Research summary
Targeting the molecular circadian clock to modulate glial function in neurodegenerative disease

I am working in the lab of Dr. Erik Musiek in the Department of Neurology. My main project is examining the role of the nuclear receptors REV-ERBa and REV-ERBb, components of the molecular circadian clock, in regulating CNS homeostasis and disease, particularly neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD). The REV-ERBs are druggable targets and thus could serve as avenues for future therapeutics as well as understanding AD and PD pathophysiology.

Graduate publications
Kanan MK, Sheehan PW, Haines JN, Gomez PG, Dhuler A, Nadarajah CJ, Wargel ZM, Freeberg BM, Nelvagal HR, Izumo M, Takahashi JS, Cooper JD, Davis AA, Musiek ES. 2024 Neuronal deletion of the circadian clock gene Bmal1 induces cell-autonomous dopaminergic neurodegeneration. JCI Insight, 9(2):e162771. PMCID: PMC10906231

Sheehan PW, Nadarajah CJ, Kanan MF, Patterson JN, Novotny B, Lawrence JH, King MW, Brase L, Inman CE, Yuede CM, Lee J, Patel TK, Harari O, Benitez BA, Davis AA, Musiek ES. 2023 An astrocyte BMAL1-BAG3 axis protects against alpha-synuclein and tau pathology. Neuron, 111(15):2383-2398.e7. PMCID:

Basak JM, Ferreiro A, Cohen LS, Sheehan PW, Nadarajah CJ, Kanan MF, Sukhum KV, Dantas G, Musiek E. 2021 Bacterial sepsis increases hippocampal fibrillar amyloid plaque load and neuroinflammation in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiol Dis, 152():105292. PMCID: PMC8057119