Abby Olsen, MD, PhD

  • Assistant Professor, Neurology

Phone

412-648-9793

E-mail

abby.olsen@pitt.edu

Personal Website

http://www.pind.pitt.edu/labs/olsen-laboratory/

Education & Training

PhD, University of Pennsylvania, 2013
MD, University of Pennsylvania, 2011

Campus Address

BST3 7017

One-Line Research Description

Pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease and related disorders

The long-term mission of our laboratory is to develop new therapeutic targets for Parkinson’s disease (PD) and related disorders, including dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and multiple system atrophy (MSA). We take an innovative approach, relying on a combination of Drosophila, rodent models, human induced pluripotent stem cells, and human patient samples.The two major areas of focus in the laboratory are 1) Defining the pathogenic contribution of glia to PD and related disorders, and 2) Understanding gene-environment interactions in PD and related disorders. Projects in the lab are always changing, but a few examples include 1) genetic screening to identify novel therapeutic targets in Parkinson’s disease, 2) developing animal models for non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, and 3) understanding the interaction between environmental risk factors and alpha-syunclein.

Representative Publications

Olsen AL, Clemens SG, Feany MB. Synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2C is required for nicotine-mediated rescue of alpha synuclein toxicity. Movement Disorders. 2022. Online ahead of print. 

Ndayisaba A, Pitaro AT, Willett AS, Jones KA, Melo de Gusmao C, Olsen AL, Kim J, Rissanen E, Woods JK, Srinivasan SR, Nagy A, Nagy A, Mesidor M, Cicero S, Patel V, Oakley DH, Tuncali I, Hung AY, Wills A-M, Hayes MT, Macmore JP, Warren L, Bower PG, Langer CB, Kellerman LR, Humphreys CW, Glanz BI, Dielubanza EJ, Frosch MP, Freeman RL, Gibbons CH, Stefanova N, Chitnis T, Weiner HL, Scherzer CR, Scholz SW, Vuzman D, Cox LM, Wenning G, Schmahmann JD, Novak P, Young GS, Feany MB, Singhal T, Khurana V. Clinical trial-ready patient cohorts for multiple system atrophy: coupling biospecimen and iPSC banking to longitudinal deep-phenotyping. Cerebellum. 2022. 1-21.

Hagemann TL, Powers B, Lin N-H, Mohamed AF, Dague KL, Hannah SC, Bachmann G, Mazur C, Rigo F, Olsen AL, Feany MB, Perng M-D, Berman RF, Messing A. Antisense therapy in a rat model of Alexander disease reverses GFAP pathology, white matter deficits, and motor impairment. Science Translational Medicine. 2021. 13(620):eabg4711.

Olsen AL and Feany MB. Parkinson’s disease risk genes act in glia to control neuronal α-synuclein toxicity. Neurobiology of Disease. 2021.159:105482.

Sarkar S, Bardai F, Olsen AL, Lohr KM, Feany MB. Oligomerization of Lrrk controls actin severing and alpha-synuclein neurotoxicity in vivo. Molecular Neurodegeneration. 2021. 16(1):33.

Sarkar S, Olsen AL, Sygnecka K, Lohr K, Feany MB. α-synuclein impairs autophagosome maturation through abnormal actin stabilization. PLoS Genetics. 2021. 17(2):e1009359.

Parkhitko AA, Ramesh D, Wang L, Leshchiner D, Filine E, Binari R, Olsen AL, Asara JM, Cracan V, Rabinowitz JD, Brockmann A, Perrimon N. Downregulation of the tyrosine degradation pathway extends Drosophila lifespan. Elife. 2020. 15;9:e58053.

Sarkar S, Murphy MA, Dammer EB, Olsen AL, Bangaraiu S, Fraenkel E, Feany MB. Comparative proteomic analysis highlights metabolic dysfunction in PD. Nature Parkinson’s Disease. 2020. 6(1):40.

Argent L, Winter F, Prickett I, Carrasquero-Ordaz M, Olsen AL, Kramer H, Lancaster E, and Becker EBE. Caspr2 interacts with type 1 inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor in the developing cerebellum and regulates Purkinje cell morphology. Journal of biological chemistry. 2020. 285(36): 12716-12726.

Sarkar S, Dammer EB, Malovic E, Olsen AL, Raza SA, Gao T, Xiao H, Oliver DL, Duong DM, Joers V, Seyfried NT, Huang M, Kukar T, Tansey MG, Kanthasamy A, Rangaraiu S. Molecular signatures of neuroinflammation induced by alpha-synuclein aggregates in microglial cells. Frontiers in Immunology. 2020. 11:33.

Olsen AL and Feany MB. Glial alpha-synuclein promotes neurodegeneration characterized by a distinct transcriptional program in vivo. Glia. 2019. 67(10):1933-1957.

Klingberg F, Chau G, Chow M, Koehler A, Olsen AL, Lodyga M, Wells RG, White ES, Hinz B. The fibronectin ED-A domain enhances recruitment of latent TGF-beta-binding protein-1 to the fibroblast matrix. Journal of Cell Science. 2018. 131(5).

Aboagye-Sackey B, Olsen AL, Mukerjee SM, Ventriglia A, Greenbaum LE, Lee GY, Naga H, Wells RG. Fibronectin extra domain A promotes liver sinusoid repair following hepatectomy. Plos One. 2016. Oct 14;11(10):e0163737.

Olsen AL, Lai Y, Scherer SS, Lancaster E. Caspr2 autoantibodies target multiple epitopes. Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm. 2015. 2(4):e127.

Wen J, Olsen AL, Perepelyuk M, Wells RG. Isolation of rat portal fibroblasts by in situ liver perfusion. J V Exp. 2012. 54;3669.

Olsen AL, Sackey BK, Marcinkiewicz C, Boettiger D, Wells RG. Fibronectin extra domain-A promotes hepatic stellate cell motility but not differentiation into myofibroblasts Gastroenterology. 2012. 142(4):928-937.

Kuhs KAL, Toporovski R, Ginsberg AA, Olsen AL, Shedlock DJ, Morrow MP, Yan J, Wells RG, Weiner DB. Peripheral immunization induces functional intrahepatic Hepatitis C specific immunity following selective retention of vaccine-specific CD8 T cells by the liver. Human Vaccin. 2011. 7(12):1326-35.

Olsen AL*, Bloomer SA*, Chan EP, Gaca MDA, Georges PC, Sackey B**, Uemura M, Janmey PA, Wells RG. Hepatic stellate cells require a stiff environment for myofibroblastic differentiaton. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2011. 301(1):G110-8. *Denotes equal contribution

Zhang P, Ostrander JH, Faivre EJ, Olsen A, Fitzsimmons D, Lange CA. Regulated association of protein kinase B/Akt with breast tumor kinase. J Biol Chem. 2005. 208(3):1982-91.

Qiu M, Olsen A, Faivre E, Horwitz KB, Lange CA. Mitogen-activated protein kinase regulates nuclear association of human progesterone receptors. Mol Endocrinol. 2003. 17(4):628-42.