Obiutodike Nnabugwu
Variations in the lipid transporter gene, APOE 4, is a genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s Disease, where amyloid beta proteins aggregate and cause neurodegeneration. Neprilysin is an enzyme that breaks down amyloid beta, and is regulated by somatostatin, thus here we seek to characterize how these proteins change in concentration and location across APOE 3 (non-disease) and 4 (disease) models. Immunohistochemical staining and imaging can help identify differences in somatostatin and neprilysin expression.