Adult neurogenesis happens when a repertoire of neural stem cells (NSCs) exit quiescence and start to generate neurons. The ability of NSCs to exit quiescence declines with aging, or if you don't have these green proteins called vimentin.

In this project, we study the function of this intermediate filament protein, vimentin, during quiescence exit. Specifically, it forms cage-like structures around aggregated proteins in NSCs to facilitate protein degradation and, subsequently, activation of neurogenesis. Our study provides insight into how stem cells recover from cellular stress and how proteostasis influences neurogenesis.

red - nuclei

green - vimentin

Credit: Dr. Christopher Morrow