Aleister Saunders, Ph.D.

Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Education in the College of Arts & Sciences; Director of the RNAi Resource Center; Associate Professor

Office: PISB 424
Phone: (215) 895-6772
Email: Aleister.Saunders@drexel.edu
Lab: PISB 401 C2
Lab Phone: (215) 895-6884
Website: The Saunders Lab

Specialization:

Biochemistry, Genetics, Biology

Education

• B.S., Pennsylvania State University
• Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Post-doctoral Training, Harvard Medical School

Research Interests

My laboratory focuses its research efforts on identifying and characterizing genes that are involved in pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We believe our efforts will lead to the identification of novel therapeutic strategies to delay or prevent onset of AD. The research is carried out by graduate and undergraduate students that work on individual and group projects and always in constant interaction with me. I am committed to creating an interactive, nurturing and exciting research experience for all of the members of my laboratory. Please feel free to contact myself or the members of my lab if you have any questions.

Publications

• A streamlin ed sub-c fer shRNA from a pSM2 vector to a pGIPZ lentiviral vector.
  Ansaloni S, Lelkes N, Snyder J, Epstein C, Dubey A, Saunders AJ.
  J RNAi Gene Silencing. 2010 Oct 27;6(2):411-5.
  PMID: 21139985
• An emerging role for Ubiquilin 1 in regulating protein quality control system and in disease pathogenesis.
  Zhang C, Saunders AJ.
  Discov Med. 2009 Jun;8(40):18-22. Review.
  PMID: 19772837
• MicroRNAs can regulate human APP levels.
  Patel N, Hoang D, Miller N, Ansaloni S, Huang Q, Rogers JT, Lee JC, Saunders AJ.
  Mol Neurodegener. 2008 Aug 6;3:10.
  PMID: 18684319
• Therapeutic targeting of the alpha-secretase pathway to treat Alzheimer's disease.
  Zhang C, Saunders AJ.
  Discov Med. 2007 Aug;7(39):113-7.
  PMID: 18093473
• An reen to identify APP metabolism regulators.
  Zhang C, Khandelwal PJ, Chakraborty R, Cuellar TL, Sarangi S, Patel SA, Cosentino CP, O'Connor M, Lee JC, Tanzi RE, Saunders AJ.
  Mol Neurodegener. 2007 Aug 24;2:15.
  PMID: 17718916
• In vivo selection for metastasis promoting genes in the mouse.
  Gumireddy K, Sun F, Klein-Szanto AJ, Gibbins JM, Gimotty PA, Saunders AJ, Schultz PG, Huang Q.
  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Apr 17;104(16):6696-701. Epub 2007 Apr 9.
  PMID: 17420453
• Real-time monitoring of the membrane-binding and insertion properties of the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin anthrolysin O from Bacillus anthracis.
  Cocklin S, Jost M, Robertson NM, Weeks SD, Web hang C, Mosser E, Loll PJ, Saunders AJ, Rest RF, Chaiken IM.
  J Mol Recognit. 2006 Jul-Aug;19(4):354-62.
  PMID: 16775845
• Saunders AJ, Tanzi RE.
  Exp Neurol. 2003 Nov;184(1):50-3. No abstract available.
  PMID: 14637079
• Genetic association of Alzheimer's disease with multiple polymorphisms in alpha-2-macroglobulin.
  Saunders AJ, Bertram L, Mullin K, Sampson AJ, Latifzai K, Basu S, Jones J, Kinney D, MacKenzie-Ingano L, Yu S, Albert MS, Moscarillo TJ, Go RC, Bassett SS, Daly MJ, Laird NM, Wang X, Velicelebi G, Wagner SL, Becker DK, Tanzi RE, Blacker D.
  PMID: 12966032