Ashutosh Tiwari

Ashutosh Tiwari

Contact

  • Associate Dean for Graduate Research and Education, College of Sciences and Arts
  • Faculty Fellow (Research Integrity), Office of the Vice President for Research
  • Professor, Chemistry
  • PhD, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

Biography

Dr. Tiwari is a broadly trained protein chemist and cell biologist. His research is in the area of ‘protein aggregation diseases' with special emphasis on age related neurodegenerative disorders such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), prion diseases, and Huntington's disease (HD). In these diseases, misfolded proteins are observed as intracellular or extracellular aggregates at the end stage of the disease. However, the underlying mechanism(s) by which these aggregated proteins impair cellular function(s) and cause toxicity is not clear and is a subject of intense debate. Tiwari laboratory is applying unique biochemical and biophysical approaches (including novel fluorescent molecules) to characterize the inherent vulnerability and instability of proteins associated with different neurodegenerative diseases. The long-term research goal of Tiwari lab is to understand consequences of protein misfolding and aggregation in vitro and how it relates to misfolding and aggregation in vivo, and its implication for neurodegenerative diseases.

Research Interests

  • Identify experimental conditions that can generate diverse aggregated protein structures from the same proteins.
  • Develop novel tools and techniques to differentiate amongst the varied aggregated species of proteins.
  • Understand the relationship between aggregated protein species and its associated cellular toxicity.