What are EV’s and why do they matter? Hint: we are not talking about electric vehicles! Watch our interview with Charlotte Wirth, a doctoral student in Quan Lu’s lab at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (MEMCARE-SRC Project 2) as she explains how she is culturing microglia in the lab to better understand how metals are influencing cellular communication using EV’s. While medical advances have increased life expectancy, living longer has led to an increase in age-related neurodegenerative disorders. 
Unfortunately, almost all of us know at least one elderly person with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s Disease, or have watched an older friend or family member struggle with cognitive decline or generalized dementia. What role might early-life exposures to metals play in these later-in-life cognitive outcomes? Charlotte gives us a terrific description of how extracellular vesicles – EV’s – package up lead and other metals for delivery into neurons. Understanding this mechanism can help lead the way to potential therapeutic approaches. Charlotte takes what feels like an incredibly complicated topic and makes it readily understandable.
Watch now