Project Grant R56NS136464

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), under the Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders (CFDA 93.853) federal grant program, provides $390,000.00 in funding to Georgia State University Research Foundation Inc. to support research on protein ubiquitination and deubiquitination in neurological disorders.

The research aims to elucidate the role of protein ubiquitination and deubiquitination processes in the nervous system, particularly under non-diseased states, and how alterations in these mechanisms may contribute to neurodegenerative diseases like Gordon Holmes Syndrome and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Key objectives include determining how the E3 ubiquitin ligase RNF216 regulates the deubiquitinase OTUD4, and assessing whether OTUD4 gain-of-function increases neuroinflammation and reproductive impairments in relevant disease models. Successful completion of this 1-year project could lead to a better understanding of how ubiquitination enzymes and deubiquitinases are coordinated in the nervous system, and identify new therapeutic targets for treating Gordon Holmes Syndrome and related neurological disorders.