Pavan Auluck, MD, PhD

Biography

Pavan Auluck, MD, PhD, is a neuropathologist and Acting Deputy Director of the Human Brain Collection Core (HBCC). His research focuses on understanding the cellular heterogeneity in the human brain and how this cellular and molecular heterogeneity may be altered in psychiatric disorders. Dr. Auluck completed his undergraduate studies in Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his graduate and medical training at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, his pathology and neuropathology residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and post-doctoral training at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Dr. Auluck joined the HBCC in 2017.

Research Interests

The Human Brain Collection Core is tasked with collecting and distributing high-quality, well-characterized brain tissue from individuals with psychiatric disorders and neurologically-intact individuals. The HBCC collaborates with investigators across the NIH and distributes tissue to extramural investigators. In addition, Dr. Auluck is focused on deciphering the molecular changes associated with psychiatric disorders with the ultimate goal of identifying a pathological biomarker. To this end, the HBCC has embarked on an effort to characterize brain regions implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and major depression and to investigate psychiatric disorders at a single-nucleus level and spatial transcriptomic level.

Selected Publications

Novel human insulin isoforms and Cα-peptide product in Islets of Langerhans and choroid plexus.  Liu QR, Zhu M, Zhang P, Mazucanti CH, Huang NS, Lang DL, Chen Q, Auluck P, Marenco S, O’Connell JF, Ferrucci L, Chia CW, Egan JM. (2021) Diabetes. PMID: 34649926

Deep transcriptome sequencing of subgenual anterior cingulate cortex reveals cross-diagnostic and diagnosis-specific RNA expression changes in major psychiatric disorders . Akula N, Marenco S, Johnson K, Feng N, Zhu K, Schulmann A, Corona W, Jiang X, Cross J, England B, Nathan A, Detera-Wadleigh S, Xu Q, Auluck PK, An K, Kramer R, Apud J, Harris BT, Rhodes CH, Lipska BK, McMahon FJ.. (2021) Neuropsychopharmacology. PMID: 33558677

Development of an aggregate-selective, human-derived α-synuclein antibody BIIB054 that ameliorates disease phenotypes in Parkinson's disease models . Weihofen A, Liu Y, Arndt JW, Huy C, Quan C, Smith BA, Baeriswyl JL, Cavegn N, Senn L, Su L, Marsh G, Auluck PK, Montrasio F, Nitsch RM, Hirst WD, Cedarbaum JM, Pepinsky RB, Grimm J, Weinreb PH. (2019) Neurobiol Dis. PMID: 30381260

Methylation of the dopamine transporter gene in blood is associated with striatal dopamine transporter availability in ADHD . Wiers CE, Lohoff FW, Lee J, Muench C, Freeman C, Zehra A, Marenco S, Lipska BK, Auluck PK, Feng N, Sun H, Goldman D, Swanson JM, Wang G-J, Volkow ND. a preliminary study. Euro J Neurosci. (2018) PMID: 30033547

Genome-Scale Networks Link Neurodegenerative Disease Genes to α-Synuclein through Specific Molecular Pathways . Khurana V, Peng, J, Chung CY, Auluck PK, Fanning S, Tardiff DF, Bartels T, Koeva M, Eichhorn SW, Benyamini H, Lou Y, Nutter-Upham A, Baru V, Freyzon Y, Tuncbag N, Costanzo M, San Luis B, Schondorf DC, Barrasa MB, Ehsani S, Sanjana N, Zhong Q, Gasser T, Bartel DP, Vidal M, Deleidi M, Boone C, Fraenkel E, Berger B, Lindquist S. (2017) Cell Systems.; 4:1-14. PMID: 28131822

In Situ Peroxidase Labeling and Mass-Spectrometry Connects Alpha-Synuclein Directly to Endocytic Trafficking and mRNA Metabolism in Neurons.  Chung CY, Khurana V, Yi S, Sahni N, Loh KH, Auluck PK, Baru V, Udeshi ND, Freyson Y, Carr SA, Hill DE, Ting AY, Lindquist S. (2017) Cell Systems. PMID: 28131823

Calcineurin determine toxic versus beneficial responses to α-synuclein.  Caraveo G, Auluck PK, Whitesell L, Chung CY, Baru V, Mosharov EV, Yan XH, Ben-Johny M, Soste M, Picotti P, Kim H, Caldwell KA, Caldwell GA, Sulzer D, Yue DT, Lindquist S (2014) PNAS. PMID: 25122673

Compounds from an unbiased chemical screen reverse both ER-to-Golgi trafficking defects and mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson's disease models . Su LJ*, Auluck PK*, Outeiro TF*, Yeger-Lotem E, Kritzer JA, Tardiff DF, Strathearn KE, Liu F, Cao S, Hamamichi S, Hill KJ, Caldwell KA, Bell GW, Fraenkel E, Cooper AA, Caldwell GA, McCaffery JM, Rochet JC, Lindquist S. (2010) Dis Model Mech. PMID: 20038714