elegans produces a neuropeptide that is an evolutionary precursor of the mammalian peptides vasopressin and oxytocin, and she mapped a neural circuit by which this molecule, nematocin, modulates mating behavior. As a postdoctoral fellow in Cori Bargmann's lab at Rockefeller University, she found that the nematode C. During her doctoral studies at UCSF with Jack Taunton, she discovered the molecular target of a natural product and elucidated a novel mechanism by which small molecules can regulate protein biogenesis.
Jennifer Garrison is an assistant professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and also holds appointments in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California. Understanding how neuropeptide signaling systems are regulated in the brain, how they mediate inter-tissue communication, and how they change over time is essential for the design of appropriate interventions to delay ovarian aging, to modulate age-related chronic and degenerative conditions, and to treat disorders characterized by behavioral dysfunction. These changes occur across multiple tissues alterations in neuropeptide signaling that lead to disruption of organismal homeostasis may be one mechanism by which these concerted changes occur during aging. Why it mattersĪs animals age they exhibit correlated, recognizable and predictable changes to their physiology.
We employ advanced imaging, genetic, and biochemical approaches to investigate these questions using both worm and mouse model systems. Our goal is to discover how age-related changes in neuropeptide signaling systems in the brain can influence whole organism healthspan and longevity, and to discover strategies to prevent or delay ovarian aging. We are also working to elucidate the complex interactions between the ovary and brain during middle-age and to identify the neuronal factors that lead to the onset of reproductive decline in females. We are developing new methods to monitor and manipulate neuropeptide signaling in living animals, and also identifying the fundamental enzymes that regulate neuropeptide communication.
Neuropeptides transmit messages within the brain and across the nervous system to control vital physiologic processes like energy homeostasis, as well as motivational and emotional states including sleep, arousal, pain, stress, and mood. We want to understand how inter-tissue communication, specifically the long-range secreted signals called neuropeptides, influence behavior and aging.
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