Cross-Linked Clues: Jack Walther on Depression and Alzheimer's
About this episode
Jack Walther discusses his research on the interactions between serotonin and beta amyloid peptides in relation to depression and Alzheimer's disease.
As a student, Jack Walther's friends often came to him when they needed a listening ear, or help with relationship struggles. This summer, Walther took his fascination with the brain and mood disorders to Dr. Darrell Mousseau's psychiatry laboratory , learning to untangle some of the tiny molecular threads that might explain why depression so often shows up alongside dementia. Walther and the research team dug into the physical interactions between serotonin and the beta amyloid peptides that build up in patients with Alzheimer's disease. . He admits going from the classroom to the laboratory felt like a sharp learning curve. "It was totally different," he said. "It's daunting once you get onto it, but once you get going, it makes a lot more sense and you feel way more comfortable." Using human embryonic kidney cells, Walther and lab staff used cross-linking chemicals to literally 'catch' proteins interacting. In this episode, Walther recalls the day Mousseau hustled into the lab, results in hand. "I could see the excitement in his face and it just made kind of the lab buzz a little," said Walther. "We found there is actually some kind of physical interaction between these beta…
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