Yueming Li presented a Scientific seminar recently

Yueming Li, Ph.D., Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York, New York, presented a Scientific Seminar in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology on April 11. The presentation was titled “Modulation of γ-secretase in Alzheimer and Cancer.”Li is a biochemist and heads up Sloan Kettering’s Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Laboratory. He is doing basic and translational research related to cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Li’s research encompasses disease mechanism to therapeutic development.

Heng Du, a professor in KU Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, stated, “Ever since Alois Alzheimer described amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques in a patient with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in 1906, the intensive debate on the role of Aβ in the etiopathogenesis of this neurological disorder has never reached a consensus. The prevailing opinion is that Aβ is a neuronal toxin closely related to neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment regardless of its role as an AD initiator or not. Gamma-secretase, a protease complex, is responsible for the final step of Aβ cleavage from amyloid precursor protein (APP). Given its importance to Aβ production, gamma-secretase thus provides an arguably therapeutic opportunity for the treatment of AD. Dr. Li is a known expert in AD and gamma secretase research field. In his recent talk, Dr. Li gave a historical review of gamma secretase and introduced interesting work from his group on an unprecedentedly identified function of interferon signaling in the regulation of gamma secretase activity. This groundbreaking finding has established a sophisticated link between neuroinflammation, antiviral innate immune signaling, and amyloidosis in, at least, a subgroup of AD patients and thus opens a new therapeutic avenue to mitigate AD.  The audience also demonstrated great enthusiasm for Dr. Li’s interferon signaling story.”  

The Scientific Seminar Series features prominent researchers from KU, the United States and the world.