Joy Zhao
Researcher in Sean Cregan's lab studying how chronic cell-stress signalling through ATF4 suppresses mTOR and kills dopamine neurons in Parkinson's disease models
Research staff/trainee, Cregan lab · Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, Canada
Working in Parkinson's disease models, the Cregan lab found that sustained activity of the stress-response transcription factor ATF4 turns on a set of genes whose combined effect is to chronically suppress both mTORC1 and mTORC2. That suppression helps activate a pro-death protein, pushing dopamine-producing neurons toward death — identifying a maladaptive 'ATF4-mTOR' axis as a potential new drug target for slowing neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | M | ATF4 activates a transcriptional program that chronically suppresses mTOR activity and promotes neurodegeneration in Parkinson disease models DEMMINGS2026 Co-author on a mechanistic study identifying a maladaptive ATF4-mTOR signaling axis — chronic integrated-stress-response activation suppresses both mTORC1 and mTORC2, triggering dopaminergic neuron death in Parkinson's disease models. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 2
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Joy Zhao.
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- Matthew D. Demmings Neuroscience researcher in Sean Cregan's lab at Western University who showed that chronic ATF4 stress signalling shuts down mTOR and kills dopamine neurons in models of Parkinson's disease
- Sean P. Cregan Studies the molecular pathways that trigger neuron death, aiming to find drug targets that protect neurons in stroke and in diseases such as Parkinson, Alzheimer and Huntington.
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