Turning Back the Neurotoxin Clock, with Dr. Jeff Dong

Midway through his undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia, a laboratory 'help wanted' poster caught Jeff Dong's eye.

He applied, gaining invaluable practical experience that summer in Stephanie Borgland's lab.

"She really supported me in understanding what research is about," said Dong, who went on to complete his PhD through UBC's Department of Microbiology and Immunology, moving to Calgary for post-doctoral work at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute. "That process was really exciting for me."

He accepted a faculty position last year as an assistant professor in the University of Saskatchewan's Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology & Immunology. 

Dong is fascinated by macrophages: white blood cells that serve as the immune system's warning system and clean-up crew.

He tracks the way they work in the brain and spinal cord, focusing on how they slip into states of dysfunction with age, and with stress.

"They're the first line of defence," said Dong. "The microglia will go and say, 'okay the cell has died, let me clean this up.' Or if there's the release of something toxic, the cell will say, 'oh, there's something happening here, let me check it out."

With age though, our microglia aren't always as diligent. 

"As a cell becomes older, it can forget what it's supposed to do," said Dong. 

Dong recently received support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to look more closely at macrophages.

"What are the specific mechanisms or signaling that occur on the macrophages, and how does this lead to their ability to remove or to react against these oxidized lipids?"

He said patients with spinal cord damage, and diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis often endure similar breakdowns.

Dong's work, Oxidized phosphatidylcholines identified as potent drivers of neurodegeneration in Multiple sclerosis, won a Brain Star Award last year from Canada's MS Society and the Canadian Institutes of Health Information. He's also won the MS Society's Catalyst grant for early-career researchers.

"That's a pilot project where we're looking to generate some novel tools and new animal models to study a protein, a molecule we call 'osteopontin'," said Dong. "We think it may be a player in terms of making MS disease worse with age."

In this episode, he talks about macrophage longevity, as well as cellular changes caused by Multiple Sclerosis.

"How long has the cell been responding against the damage, and how old is the cell itself?" said Dong. "They both contribute to the progression."

He's also testing different models, to see whether higher levels of fitness makes cells more resilient against oxidative stress. 

"Hopefully we'll have answers in a year or two," he said.

Dong admits he chose the University of Saskatchewan because of its strength in MS research, and because there are so many young biomedical scientists.

"The university is very vibrant in terms of the early career research community," he said. "These are fantastic colleagues who I can grow with and do very exciting research with over the next number of decades."