College of Medicine
Ranum Lab
Led by Laura P W Ranum · Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
What we study
The Ranum Lab studies how toxic proteins from repeat expansion mutations cause neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and HD. They develop therapies, including antibodies and drugs like metformin, to target these proteins.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Clinical
- Mice
- Cells in a dish
- Human participants
- Coding helps
- Projects
- 2
- Papers
- 4
Current projects
Proof of concept testing of an anti-GA immunotherapy for C9orf72 ALS/FTD
Testing an antibody therapy to reduce toxic proteins in ALS/FTD mice.
Safety of Metformin in C9orf72 ALS: Effects on RAN Proteins, Breathing, Imaging, and Metabolomic Outcome Measures
Studying metformin's effects on RAN proteins and health in ALS patients.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Metformin improves RAN protein pathology, alternative splicing, and behavioral phenotypes in SCA8 mice
2026 · Life Science Alliance
Shows metformin reduces RAN protein levels in SCA8 mice.
- PERK deficiency amplifies molecular, structural, and network vulnerability to repetitive mild traumatic brain injury
2026 · Neurobiology of Disease
Tests how PERK deficiency affects brain response to repeated mild brain injuries.
Show 2 more papersShow fewer
- PolyGR‐Containing Aggregates in Alzheimer's Disease: A Novel Proteinopathy Associated with Clinical Features of AD Patients
2025 · Alzheimer s & Dementia
Finds polyGR+ aggregates in Alzheimer's disease brains linked to tau tangles.
- Repeat-associated non-AUG translation as a common mechanism for the polyGln ataxias
2025 · Cell Reports
Finds RAN proteins in polyGln ataxias linked to brain damage.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Laura P W Ranum hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.