Andrew Petersen, PhD
Position title: Senior Scientist in iPSC group at Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics, Inc (FCDI), Madison, WI
Email: apetersen3@wisc.edu
Phone: Advisor: Dr. David Wassarman
Address:
Graduation: 12/2012
Research Interest: Studying causes of neurodegeneration in humans using human stem-cell derived neurons and glia, primarily focused on models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alexander’s disease
Alumni News
- Andrew received his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology from Dr. David Wassarman’s laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His thesis research used Drosophila to study underlying causes of neurodegeneration in a model of the human disease Ataxia-telangiectasia. His research indicated that upregulation of the innate immune response, which is analogous to the inflammatory pathway in mammals, may promote neurodegeneration in this disease.
- He is currently working in the laboratory of Dr. Su-Chun Zhang studying the causes of neurodegeneration in humans using stem-cell derived neurons and glia. His work primarily focuses on models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alexander’s disease.
Publications
- Cao Y, Chtarbanova S, Petersen AJ, and Ganetzky B (2013). Dnr1 mutations cause neurodegeneration in Drosophila by activating the innate immune response in the brain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 110:E1752-1760. Epub 2013 Apr 23. PMCID: PMC3651420
- Petersen AJ, Katzenberger RJ, Wassarman DA. (2013). The innate immune response transcription factor relish is necessary for neurodegeneration in a Drosophila model of ataxia-telangiectasia. Genetics. 194:133-142. Epub 2013 Mar 15. PMID: 23502677 [PubMed – in process]
- Petersen AJ, Katzenberger RJ, and Wassarman DA (2013). Germline gene expression in glial cells is regulated by ATM and prevents neurodegeneration inDrosophila. Hum Mol Genet. (In revision)
- Petersen AJ, Katzenberger, RJ, and Wassarman DA (2013). Glial-cell activation of the NFkB protein Relish is required for neurodegeneration. In preparation
- Petersen AJ and Wassarman DA (2012). Drosophila innate immune response pathways moonlight in neuro-degeneration. Fly (Austin). 6:169-172. PMCID: PMC3306708
- Petersen AJ, Rimkus SA, and Wassarman DA (2012). ATM kinase inhibition in glial cells activates the innate immune response and causes neurodegeneration in Drosophila. PNAS. 109:4039. PMCID: PMC3306708
- Rimkus SA, Petersen AJ, Katzenberger RJ, and Wassarman DA (2010). The effect of ATM knockdown on ionizing radiation-induced neuronal cell cycle re-entry in Drosophila. Cell Cycle. 9:2686-2687. No abstract available. PMCID: PMC3322451