Charleen T. Chu, MD, PhD is Professor of Pathology and Vice-Chair of Faculty Mentorship at the University of Pittsburgh, where she holds the A. Julio Martinez Chair in Neuropathology. She serves as the Director of Ophthalmic Pathology, and Co-Director of the Pathologist Investigator Residency-Research Training Program (PIRRT). Dr. Chu is board certified in Anatomic Pathology and Neuropathology.
Dr. Chu leads a multidisciplinary research team focused on disruptions in cellular quality control in neurons. Using oxidative and genetic models in concert with tissues from patients with Parkinson's disease, Parkinson's with dementia (PDD) and Lewy body dementia (DLB), her team discovered a key role for altered mitochondrial targeting of kinases, accompanied by decreased nuclear signaling. This led to seminal discoveries in the post-translational regulation of mitochondrial homeostasis and neuronal autophagy, employing molecular, live cell imaging and mass spectrometry/proteomic approaches. Dr. Chu has authored numerous publications, including 5 Faculty of 1000-recommended articles in journals such as Nature Cell Biol, J Cell Biol, J Biol Chem, Cell Death Differ, Am J Pathol, Hum Mol Genet, BBA-Disease, J Neurosci, and J Neurochem. She serves as a chartered member of NIH study sections, Associate Editor of the journal Autophagy and Academic Editor for PLoS ONE, co-editing the book Autophagy of the Nervous System (World Scientific Publishing Co, Singapore, 2012). Her laboratory is supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIA, NINDS).
Dr. Chu leads a multidisciplinary research team focused on disruptions in cellular quality control in neurons. Using oxidative and genetic models in concert with tissues from patients with Parkinson's disease, Parkinson's with dementia (PDD) and Lewy body dementia (DLB), her team discovered a key role for altered mitochondrial targeting of kinases, accompanied by decreased nuclear signaling. This led to seminal discoveries in the post-translational regulation of mitochondrial homeostasis and neuronal autophagy, employing molecular, live cell imaging and mass spectrometry/proteomic approaches. Dr. Chu has authored numerous publications, including 5 Faculty of 1000-recommended articles in journals such as Nature Cell Biol, J Cell Biol, J Biol Chem, Cell Death Differ, Am J Pathol, Hum Mol Genet, BBA-Disease, J Neurosci, and J Neurochem. She serves as a chartered member of NIH study sections, Associate Editor of the journal Autophagy and Academic Editor for PLoS ONE, co-editing the book Autophagy of the Nervous System (World Scientific Publishing Co, Singapore, 2012). Her laboratory is supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIA, NINDS).
