Kostantin Dobrenis is an Associate Professor in the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases and lysosomal storage disorders, including Tay-Sachs, Sandhoff, Niemann-Pick C, and mucolipidosis IV. He investigates therapeutic strategies to overcome blood-brain barrier challenges and enhance enzyme delivery, such as fusion proteins with tetanus toxin fragments. His lab also explores small molecule therapies like miglustat and cyclodextrin, and neuronal-microglial interactions for CNS therapy. Techniques include molecular biology, animal behavioral assays, and advanced imaging. Research interests emphasize ganglioside biology, microglial roles in neurodegeneration, and lysosomal enzyme transfer mechanisms. Key projects include cyclodextrin efficacy in Alzheimer’s models and NPC disease, as well as genetic mouse models to study disease pathogenesis. The lab collaborates on projects like CSF-1 receptor signaling in microglia and Slc9a6 knockout effects on brain development. His work bridges basic science and translational medicine, aiming to develop therapies for genetic CNS disorders. No awards listed, though his research has been published in high-impact journals like Neurobiology of Disease and Human Molecular Genetics . Advising and grants focus on training researchers in neurodegenerative disease mechanisms. The lab’s future directions include optimizing enzyme delivery systems and understanding microglia-neuron crosstalk in disease.







