Ms. Wilson is a gerontological social worker who is interested in training health care professionals of all disciplines to provide comprehensive geriatric care. Dr. Woods has made major contributions to the education and training of health care professionals in geriatrics and gerontology. Her primary areas of interest are mental health and cognitive functioning from middle adulthood through advanced old age and interdisciplinary team training in the delivery of comprehensive health care services for the aged and their families. The research projects in Dr. Xiangwei Wu's laboratory are designed to elucidate the function of the tumor suppressor p53 in cell cycle checkpoint control and identification of factors involved in this process. One area of investigation focuses on the post-translational modification of p53, including phosphorylation and acetylation, and how this may affect ubiquitination and degradation, an essential determinant in p53 s ability to mediate its function.
AD is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with cognitive impairment and memory loss.
It is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly. Dr. Zheng's laboratory is identifying and characterizing AD related genes and pathways in vivo using transgenic and gene knockout technologies. Mutations in these genes lead to early onset of Alzheimer's disease. APP knockout mice are viable but exhibit learning and memory defects. Deletion of PS1 in mice results in embryonic or newborn death, a phenotype that can be rescued by neuronal expression of human PS1.