Ilia V. Baskakov

Ilia V. Baskakov is a Professor at the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology and Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of prion-induced neurodegeneration and the role of glial cells in neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Baskakov's educational background includes:

• M.S. in Bioorganic Chemistry from Moscow University
• Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
• Postdoctoral training in biophysics and protein folding with Wayne Bolen at University of Texas Medical Branch
• Postdoctoral training on prions with Nobel laureate Stanley Prusiner at UCSF

Dr. Baskakov's research primarily focuses on prion diseases and their relationship to broader neurodegenerative disorders. His laboratory uses a multidisciplinary approach combining animal pathology, transcriptome analysis, neuroimmunology, cell biology, structural analysis, biochemistry, and imaging to investigate prion-induced neurodegeneration. Key areas of investigation include the role of reactive astrocytes and reactive microglia in disease progression, the impact of prion protein sialylation on neuroinflammation and disease outcomes, and the mechanisms of prion strain adaptation. His groundbreaking work demonstrated that transmissible prion disease can be induced using amyloid fibrils prepared in vitro, challenging conventional understanding of prion transmission.

An analysis of Dr. Baskakov's recent publications reveals a strong focus on glial cell responses in prion diseases, particularly examining how reactive microglia and astrocytes contribute to neurodegeneration. His work increasingly explores the relationship between glial activation states and disease progression, with recent studies investigating microglial phagocytosis of neurons and astrocyte-mediated neuronal toxicity. There's also continued emphasis on the role of prion protein post-translational modifications, particularly sialylation, in determining disease phenotypes and strain characteristics.

Dr. Baskakov has made significant contributions to the understanding of prion biology through his laboratory's work. His team established that the degree of astrocyte activation is predictive of incubation time to prion diseases and demonstrated that challenge with prion protein with reduced sialylation does not cause prion infection. The laboratory developed innovative approaches including a new imaging technique combining atomic force and fluorescence microscopy to study prion strain evolution.

Dr. Baskakov's laboratory is equipped with advanced instrumentation including an Atomic Force Microscope PicoLE combined with inverted fluorescence microscopy, CD spectrophotometer, FTIR spectrometer, fluorimeter, dynamic light scattering system, HPLC and FPLC systems, and fluorescence inverted microscope. Current research projects focus on understanding whether microglia-driven phagocytosis and astrocyte reactivity should be targeted as potential therapeutic strategies for treating prion diseases.