The Transmitter Features Discussion on Dr. Nixon’s Work
Dr. Nixon and the work from the Nixon Lab was featured in the May 2024 issue of the e-journal, The Transmitter. The article, titled “Reviving ‘inside-out’ hypothesis of amyloid beta to explain Alzheimer’s mysteries” discusses how plaques begin as faulty autolysosomes, the trash collectors of the cell, according to a 2022 study from Nixon lab. When autolysosomes lose their acidity, they fail to break down proteins such as amyloid beta, and the endoplasmic reticulum surrounding a cell’s nucleus fills with these proteins. Amyloid beta clumps onto itself and forms fibrils within the clogged endoplasmic reticulum and autophagy vesicles. After the neuron dies, it leaves a plaque in its place.