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Dr. Shermali Gunawardena

Assistant Professor
Research Assistant Professor, Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics
Cooke 329
phone: (716) 645-4915
e-mail: sg99@bio.buffalo.edu

Dr. Gunawardena's Lab Website

Work Study Positions

Research Summary

Within axons vital cargoes must be transported over great distances along microtubule tracks to maintain cell viability. In neuronal cells, many proteins function in sending and receiving messages, cell repair, and cell protection. My interest is to elucidate if degeneration of neurons in two neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s disease or Huntington’s/other polyQ diseases), is related to a defect in this long distance transport system and what mechanisms facilitate the normal transport of APP and huntingtin.

Selected Publications

Gunawardena, S., Goldstein, L.S.B. Presenilin’s role in kinesin and human amyloid precursor protein (APP) mediated transport pathways. (manuscript in preparation). Gunawardena, S., Herrera, C.M. Goldstein, L.S.B. A small molecular screen identifies modifiers of polyQ mediated axonal blockages. (manuscript in preparation).

Falzone, T.L., Stokin G.B., Lillo C., Gunawardena S., Reis, G., Rodrigues, E.M., Waterman E.L. Williams, D.S., Goldstein, L.S.B. Aberrant axonal tau behavior and exacerbation of tau-mediated neurotoxicity by kinesin-1 transport defects. (Submitted to Science)

Stokin, G.B., Almenar-Queralt, A., Gunawardena S., Rodrigues, E.M., Lillo, C., Mount, S.L., Roberts, E.A., Williams, D.S., Goldstein, L.S.B. (2008) Presenilin-medated suppression of amyloid precursor protein-induced axonopathies. Hum Mol Genet: August 11.

Gunawardena, S. and Goldstein, L.S.B. (2005) ‘Polyglutamine diseases and transport problems: Deadly traffic jams on neuronal highways’. Archives of Neurology 62:46-51.

Gunawardena, S. and Goldstein, L.S.B. (2004) ‘Cargo carrying motor vehicles on the neuronal highway: Transport pathways and neurodegenerative disease’. Journal of Neurobiology 58:258-71.

Gunawardena, S., Her, L., Laymon, R.A., Brusch, R.G., Niesman, I.R., Sintasath, L., Bonini, N.M., and Goldstein, L.S.B. (2003) Disruption of axonal transport by loss of huntingtin or expression of poly Q protein in Drosophila. Neuron 40:25-40. (see accompanying “Previews” in same issue).

Gunawardena, S. and Goldstein, L.S.B. (2001). Disruption of axonal transport and neuronal viability by amyloid precursor protein mutations in Drosophila. Neuron 32:389-401.

Goldstein, L.S.B. and Gunawardena, S. (2000). Flying through the Drosophila cytoskeletal genome. Journal of Cell Biology 150:F63-F68.

Gunawardena, S. and Rykowski, M.C. (2000). Direct evidence for interphase chromosome movement during the mid-blastula transition in Drosophila. Current Biology 10: 285-288.

Gunawardena, S., Heddle, E and Rykowski, M. (1995). “Chromosomal Puffing” in diploid nuclei of Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Cell Science 108: 1863-1872.