August 6, 2020

Dr. Dao-Fu Dai received a Leigh Syndrome Roadmap Project Grant sponsored by the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. The one-year grant in the amount of $15,000 is for the project entitled “The role of microglia, NAD⁺ and mitochondrial ROS in Leigh Syndrome”. Mutations in mitochondrial complex I are the most common cause of Leigh syndrome (LS). Although microglial activation is well documented in LS, it remains unclear whether this has a protective, detrimental or bystander effect. The project proposes to study the role of microglia using an LS mouse model (complex I subunit Ndufs4-/- mice) and human induced pluripotent stem cells-derived neurons (iPS-N) with an Ndufs4 deletion.