Photo: Bryan Goodchild
Anna Aristarkhova has received a predoctoral fellowship award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to research the mechanisms underlying visual loss in multiple sclerosis (MS) and determine whether certain proteins may trigger neuroinflammation that results in synapse elimination.
Aristarkhova is an MD/PhD student working in the lab of Dorothy P. Schafer, PhD, the Molly McGovern Chair in Biomedical Research and professor of neurobiology.
“One of our labs interests is in understanding the pathogenesis of MS. My research is focused on understanding how synapses—the connections that allow neurons to communicate with each other—are lost in MS patients,” Aristarkhova said. “I am especially interested in understanding how synapse loss occurs in the visual thalamus, a region of the brain that helps to process visual information. This is a key area to study as synapse loss here can contribute to the development of vision-related symptoms in MS patients, such as optic neuritis.”
Aristarkhova’s research focuses on understanding the role of microglia—the immune cells in the brain—in synapse loss. Microglia are known to become reactive and inflammatory in many neurodegenerative diseases, including MS. She theorizes that a complex complement protein called C1q can trigger microglia to adopt a pro-inflammatory state, which may then result in neuroinflammation and the secretion of a second complement protein called C3 that may then mediate synapse loss. The goal of her research is to both determine the exact mechanisms of how C1q and C3 effect synapse loss in MS patients and to also develop a strategy for blocking these proteins to prevent synapse damage. Ultimately, she hopes to use the insights from her work to lay the foundations for new therapeutic approaches for MS patients.
“We have a deep interest in understanding how complement is regulating neuroinflammation. Anna has already made important strides toward developing an ASO-based [antisense oligonucleotides] strategy in collaboration with the Watts lab [Jonathan K. Watts, PhD, professor of RNA therapeutics] to target complement in the brain, which is the basis of part of this award,” Dr. Schafer said. “I am very proud of her.”
“It feels great to have this research be of interest to the scientific community and be recognized for it,” Aristarkhova said. “I’ve had a lot of help from my lab partners and Dr. Schafer, and this success is all thanks to them.”
Aristarkhova started her MD/PhD at UMass Chan in 2022 and has worked in the Schafer lab since 2024. She’s originally from Brookline and received her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UMass Amherst.
