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Faculty Detail    
Name LAURA A VOLPICELLI-DALEY
Assistant Professor		  
Campus Address CIRC 410B Zip 0017
Phone  (205) 996-7695
E-mail  lvolpicellidaley@uabmc.edu
Other websites http://labs.uab.edu/volpicel/
     


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Neurology Chair Office  Neurology Chair Office Professor
Secondary  Neurobiology  Neurobiology Assistant Professor
Center  Alzheimer's Disease Center  Alzheimer's Disease Center Professor
Center  Civitan International Research Center  Civitan International Research Center Professor
Center  Comprehensive Neuroscience Center  Comprehensive Neuroscience Center Professor
Center  Ctr Neurodegeneration & Exp Ther (CNET)  Ctr Neurodegeneration & Exp Ther (CNET) Professor

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Program 
Biochemistry and Structural Biology 
Cell, Molecular, & Developmental Biology 
Comprehensive Neuroscience Center 
Integrative Biomedical Sciences 
Medical Scientist Training Program 
Neuroscience 
Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine 

Biographical Sketch 
Laura Volpicelli-Daley earned her BA in Mathematics and English Literature at Franklin and Marshall College. She earned her PhD in Neuroscience at Emory University, where she performed her thesis project in the laboratory of Allan Levey, MD,PhD, Chairman of Neurology and director of the Center of Neurodegenerative Disease. Laura performed her postdoctoral fellowship in Cell Biology at Yale University, in the laboratory of Pietro De Camilli, MD, Howard Hughes Investigator. Laura received further training in Parkinson’s disease at the University of Pennsylvania with Virginia Lee MBA, PhD and John Trojanowski MD, PhD, co-directors of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research.



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Cognitive impairments in Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementias
Description
The goal of the lab is to stop the progression of Parkinson’s disease, particularly the development of cognitive impairments. To accomplish this, the lab seeks to understand how aggregates of α-synuclein form, and how to stop their spread throughout the nervous system. The lab utilizes rodent models to determine how genes such as LRRK2, GBA and Tau influence the formation of α-synuclein aggregates. Collaborations with drug discovery companies also seek to determine if novel therapeutics can prevent α-synuclein aggregate formation and associated neuronal dysfunction. Techniques in the lab include: protein purification, super resolution imaging, live cell imaging, biochemistry,and rodent behavior. Finally, I have several graduate and undergraduate students in the lab that have received prestigious awards, and is dedicated to their success as future physicians and/or scientists.

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Neuron. 2011 Oct 6;72(1):57-71.

Exogenous alpha-synuclein fibrils induce Lewy body pathology leading to synaptic dysfunction and neuron death.

Volpicelli-Daley LA, Luk KC, Patel TP, Tanik SA, Riddle DM, Stieber A, Meaney DF, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM.
 		 21982369 
Nat Protoc. 2014 Sep;9(9):2135-46

Addition of exogenous α-synuclein preformed fibrils to primary neuronal cultures to seed recruitment of endogenous alpha-synuclein to Lewy body and Lewy neurite-like aggregates.

Volpicelli-Daley LA, Luk KC, Lee VM. 		 25122523 
Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2018 May 1;6(1):35.

alpha-Synuclein fibril-induced paradoxical structural and functional defects in hippocampal neurons.

Froula JM, Henderson BW, Gonzalez JC, Vaden JH, Mclean JW, Wu Y, Banumurthy G, Overstreet-Wadiche L, Herskowitz JH, Volpicelli-Daley LA. 		 29716652 
Mol Ther Nucleic Acids. 2017 Sep 15;8:508-519.

LRRK2 Antisense Oligonucleotides Ameliorate alpha-Synuclein Inclusion Formation in a Parkinson's Disease Mouse Model.

Zhao HT, John N, Delic V, Ikeda-Lee K, Kim A, Weihofen A, Swayze EE, Kordasiewicz HB, West AB, Volpicelli-Daley LA. 		  
J Neurosci. 2016 Jul 13;36(28):7415-27

G2019S-LRRK2 Expression Augments alpha-Synuclein Sequestration into Inclusions in Neurons.

Volpicelli-Daley LA, Abdelmotilib H, Liu Z, Stoyka L, Daher JP, Milnerwood AJ, Unni VK, Hirst WD, Yue Z, Zhao HT, Fraser K, Kennedy RE, West AB. 		 27413152 
J Comp Neurol. 2014 Aug 1;522(11):2465-80.

Differential LRRK2 expression in the cortex, striatum, and substantia nigra in transgenic and nontransgenic rodents.

West AB, Cowell RM, Daher JP, Moehle MS, Hinkle KM, Melrose HL, Standaert DG, Volpicelli-Daley LA. 		 24633735 
Mol Biol Cell. 2014 Dec 15;25(25):4010-23.

Formation of alpha-synuclein Lewy neurite-like aggregates in axons impedes the transport of distinct endosomes.

Volpicelli-Daley LA, Gamble KL, Schultheiss CE, Riddle DM, West AB, Lee VM. 		 25298402 
Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1948:1-14. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9124-2_1.

Assays for Neuronal Defects Caused by Early Formation of alpha-Synuclein Inclusions in Primary Cultured Neurons.

Volpicelli-Daley LA.

 		 30771165 
 

Keywords
Parkinson's disease, Lewy body dementias, synuclein, tau, glucocerebrosidase, cell biology of the neuron, neurodegeneration