Laura Mitic, PhD
Specialist
Neurology
School of Medicine

As the Chief Scientific Officer for the Bluefield Project to Cure Frontotemporal Dementia, I work to enable and accelerate basic, clinical and translational research in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) caused by mutations in the lysosomal protein progranulin (GRN). With our aggressive timeline to find a cure or therapy for GRN-FTD, I foster highly focused, rapid and collaborative discovery research and engage with industry partners to advance drug development for this devastating disease.

Education & Training

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• Postdoctoral Studies Genetics of Aging University of California, San Francisco 2008
• Postdoctoral Studies Structural Biology Yale University 2002
• PhD Cell Biology Yale University 2000
• BA Molecular Cell Biology Northwestern University 1995

Interests

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• lysosomal storage disorders
• neurodegenerative diseases
• microglia
• progranulin
• frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD)
• glia-neuron interactions
• dementia

Websites

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• @@bluefieldproj on Twitter (twitter.com)
• The Bluefield Project to Cure Frontotemporal Dementia (bluefieldproject.org)

Publications (26)

Top publication keywords:
Neurofilament ProteinsIntercellular Signaling Peptides and ProteinsIntercellular JunctionsOccludinSaposinsMembrane ProteinsPhosphoproteinsRecombinant Fusion ProteinsClaudinsConnexinsNeuroprotective AgentsFrontotemporal Lobar DegenerationSumoylationDrug DiscoveryTight Junctions

• The Neurofilament Surveillance Project (NSP): A biomarker study to sample blood quarterly in familial frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
  Alzheimer's & Dementia 2022 Rachel Acuna-Narvaez, Hilary W. Heuer, Leah K. Forsberg, Anne Alward, Danielle Graham, Ann Fishman, Kevin M Nelson, Tyler Kolander, Howard M Fillit, Wendy R Galpern, Serena Hung, Chris Mason, Laurence…
• The role of neurofilament light in genetic frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
  Brain communications 2022 Zetterberg H, Teunissen C, van Swieten J, Kuhle J, Boxer A, Rohrer JD, Mitic L, Nicholson AM, Pearlman R, McCaughey SM, Tatton N
• Plasma Neurofilament Light for Prediction of Disease Progression in Familial Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration.
  Neurology 2021 Rojas JC, Wang P, Staffaroni AM, Heller C, Cobigo Y, Wolf A, Goh SM, Ljubenkov PA, Heuer HW, Fong JC, Taylor JB, Veras E, Song L, Jeromin A, Hanlon D, Yu L, Khinikar A, Sivasankaran R, Kieloch A, …
• Peripheral Innate Immune Activation Correlates With Disease Severity in GRN Haploinsufficiency.
  Frontiers in neurology 2019 Ljubenkov PA, Miller Z, Mumford P, Zhang J, Allen IE, Mitic L, Staffaroni A, Heuer H, Rojas JC, Cobigo Y, Karydas A, Pearlman R, Miller B, Kramer JH, McGrath MS, Rosen HJ, Boxer AL
• Peripheral Innate Immune Activation Correlates with Disease Severity in GRN Mutation Carriers (P4.178).
  Neurology 2018 Peter Ljubenkov, Paige Mumford, Michael McGrath, Isabel Elaine Allen, Zachary Miller, Laura Mitic, Anna Karydas, Hilary Heuer, Julio Rojas-Martinez, Ping Wang, Jane Zhang, Adam Staffaroni, Yann Cobigo…

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• An 8-week, open-label, dose-finding study of nimodipine for the treatment of progranulin insufficiency from GRN gene mutations.
  Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.) 2017 Sha SJ, Miller ZA, Min SW, Zhou Y, Brown J, Mitic LL, Karydas A, Koestler M, Tsai R, Corbetta-Rastelli C, Lin S, Hare E, Fields S, Fleischmann KE, Powers R, Fitch R, Martens LH, Shamloo M, Fagan AM, …
• Prosaposin is a regulator of progranulin levels and oligomerization.
  Nature communications 2016 Nicholson AM, Finch NA, Almeida M, Perkerson RB, van Blitterswijk M, Wojtas A, Cenik B, Rotondo S, Inskeep V, Almasy L, Dyer T, Peralta J, Jun G, Wood AR, Frayling TM, Fuchsberger C, Fowler S, …
• MCP-1 and eotaxin-1 selectively and negatively associate with memory in MCI and Alzheimer's disease dementia phenotypes.
  Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 2016 Bettcher BM, Fitch R, Wynn MJ, Lalli MA, Elofson J, Jastrzab L, Mitic L, Miller ZA, Rabinovici GD, Miller BL, Kao AW, Kosik KS, Kramer JH
• Progranulin protein plasma and CSF levels in a large well-characterized dementia and healthy aging cohort. (S33.004).
  Neurology 2015 Zachary Miller, Laura Mitic, Jennifer Tran, Iryna Lobach, Anna Karydas, Ginette Serrero, Rodney Pearlman, Howard Rosen, Bruce Miller, Adam Boxer
• Progranulin: at the interface of neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases.
  Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEM 2013 Nguyen AD, Nguyen TA, Martens LH, Mitic LL, Farese RV
• The advantages of frontotemporal degeneration drug development (part 2 of frontotemporal degeneration: the next therapeutic frontier).
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2012 Boxer AL, Gold M, Huey E, Hu WT, Rosen H, Kramer J, Gao FB, Burton EA, Chow T, Kao A, Leavitt BR, Lamb B, Grether M, Knopman D, Cairns NJ, Mackenzie IR, Mitic L, Roberson ED, Van Kammen D, Cantillon M…
• Frontotemporal degeneration, the next therapeutic frontier: molecules and animal models for frontotemporal degeneration drug development.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2012 Boxer AL, Gold M, Huey E, Gao FB, Burton EA, Chow T, Kao A, Leavitt BR, Lamb B, Grether M, Knopman D, Cairns NJ, Mackenzie IR, Mitic L, Roberson ED, Van Kammen D, Cantillon M, Zahs K, Salloway S, …
• SUMOylation of claudin-2.
  Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2012 Van Itallie CM, Mitic LL, Anderson JM
• Claudin-2 forms homodimers and is a component of a high molecular weight protein complex.
  The Journal of biological chemistry 2010 Van Itallie CM, Mitic LL, Anderson JM
• A role for autophagy in the extension of lifespan by dietary restriction in C. elegans.
  PLoS genetics 2008 Hansen M, Chandra A, Mitic LL, Onken B, Driscoll M, Kenyon C
• A Role for Autophagy Genes in the Extension of Lifespan by Dietary Restriction in C. elegans.
  PLoS Genetics 2005 Malene Hansen, Abha Chandra, Laura L. Mitic, Brian Onken, Monica Driscoll, Cynthia Kenyon
• Expression, solubilization, and biochemical characterization of the tight junction transmembrane protein claudin-4.
  Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society 2003 Mitic LL, Unger VM, Anderson JM
• Comparative biochemical and immunocytochemical studies reveal differences in the effects of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin on polarized CaCo-2 cells versus Vero cells.
  The Journal of biological chemistry 2001 Singh U, Mitic LL, Wieckowski EU, Anderson JM, McClane BA
• Occludin and Claudins.
  Tight Junctions 2001 Laura Mitic, Christina Van Itallie
• Heterogeneity in expression and subcellular localization of claudins 2, 3, 4, and 5 in the rat liver, pancreas, and gut.
  Gastroenterology 2001 Rahner C, Mitic LL, Anderson JM
• Occludin localization at the tight junction requires the second extracellular loop.
  The Journal of membrane biology 2000 Medina R, Rahner C, Mitic LL, Anderson JM, Van Itallie CM
• Molecular physiology and pathophysiology of tight junctions I. Tight junction structure and function: lessons from mutant animals and proteins.
  American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology 2000 Mitic LL, Van Itallie CM, Anderson JM
• CaCo-2 cells treated with Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin form multiple large complex species, one of which contains the tight junction protein occludin.
  The Journal of biological chemistry 2000 Singh U, Van Itallie CM, Mitic LL, Anderson JM, McClane BA
• Connexin-occludin chimeras containing the ZO-binding domain of occludin localize at MDCK tight junctions and NRK cell contacts.
  The Journal of cell biology 1999 Mitic LL, Schneeberger EE, Fanning AS, Anderson JM
• Transmembrane proteins in the tight junction barrier.
  Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN 1999 Fanning AS, Mitic LL, Anderson JM
• Molecular architecture of tight junctions.
  Annual review of physiology 1998 Mitic LL, Anderson JM