Dr. Tasset is an Instructor in Dr. Ana Maria Cuervo’s Research group.

Dr. Tasset's main interest is in the study of changes in chaperone-mediated autophagy in the context of different neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Autophagy is an essential cellular mechanism responsible of cellular quality control and cellular energy maintenance. Dr. Tasset was part of the study published in Nature Neuroscience that identified the toxic effect for LRKK2 (a PD-related protein) on chaperone-mediated autophagy and elucidated the mechanism of its toxicity. She is currently leading the efforts to investigate the possibility of a similar toxic effect on autophagy of pathogenic proteins related to other neurodegenerative disorders. Specifically, she has been studying the interplay between mutant forms of Ubiquilin-2 shown pathogenic in ALS and chaperone-mediated autophagy and have just completed a study on the toxicity of GBA, a protein recently related to Parkinson's disease, on this autophagic pathway.

In addition of the molecular characterization of the autophagic toxicity that can set the basis for pathogenesis in these diseases, Dr. Tasset has been exploring different strategies to modulate the activity of these autophagic pathways with therapeutic purposes. As part of those studies, she has recently contributed to identify a novel stimulatory effect of humanin, a small mitochondrial peptide, on chaperone-mediated autophagy and the inhibitory effect on this pathway of a phosphopeptide proven to have a beneficial effect in LUPUS, a condition with aberrantly increased chaperone-mediated autophagy. Lastly, she is also complementing these chemical approaches with genetic manipulations in mouse models to determine the possible beneficial effect of genetic upregulation of chaperone-mediated autophagy in physiological aging and age-related diseases.

Dr. Tasset received the prestigious Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship and her work has been featured in News and Views of Nature Neuroscience, the NIH Director Blog and Faculty of 1000.

(from >50  peer-reviewed publications) 

Gong Z, Tasset I*, Diaz A, Anguiano J, Tas E, Cui L, Kuliawat R, Liu H, Kuhn B, Cuervo AM, Muzumdar R. Humanin is an endogenous activator of chaperone-mediated autophagy. J Cell Biol In press, 2017. (*co-first author)

Caballero B, Wang Y, Diaz A, Tasset I, Juste YR, Stiller B, Mandelkow EM, Mandelkow E, Cuervo AM. Interplay of pathogenic forms of human tau with different autophagic pathways. Aging Cell In press, 2017

Tasset I, Cuervo AM. Role of chaperone-mediated autophagy in metabolism.FEBS J 283(13):2403-13, 2016: Invited review • Issue Cover. Featured in Faculty of 1000 recommened.

Klionsky DJ, …Tasset I, …. et al., Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3^rd edition). Autophagy 12(1):1-222, 2016.

Merinas-Amo T, Tasset-Cuevas I, Díaz A, Alonso-Moraga A, Calahorro F. In vivo and in vitro studies of the role of lyophilized blond Larger beer and some bioactive components in the modulation of  degenerative processes. J Func Foods27, 274-294, 2016

Kett LR, Stiller B, Bernath MM, Tasset I, Blesa J, Jackson-Lewis V, Chan RB, Zhou B, Di Paolo G, Przedorski S, Cuervo AM, Dauer WT. a-synuclein-independent histopathological and motor deficits in mice lacking the endolysosomal parkinsonism protein Atp13a2. J Neurosci 35(14):5724-42, 2015.

Macri C, Wang F, Tasset I, Schall N, Page N, Briand JP, Cuervo Am, Muller S. Modulation of deregulated chaperone-mediated autophagy by a phosphopeptide. Autophagy 11(3):472-86, 2015.

Lozano-Baena MD, Tasset I, Obregón-Cano S, de Haro-Bailon A, Muñoz-Serrano A, Alonso-Moraga A. Antigenotoxicity and tumor growing inhibition by leafy Brassica carinata and Sinigrin. Molecules 20(9):15748-65, 2015.

Quintavaller C, Costanzo S, Zanca C, Tasset I, Fraldi A, Incoronato M, Mirabelli P, Monti M, Ballabio A, Pucci P, Cuervo AM, Condorelli A. Phosphorylation-regulated degradation of the tumor-supressor form of PED by chaperone-mediated autophagy in lung cancer cells. J Cell Physiol 229(10):1359-68, 2014.

Tasset I, Cuervo AM. La autofagia y el envejecimiento. Tratado de Geriatría 2014,  ISBN  9788490221204 (Book chapter)  

Orenstein SJ, Kuo SH, Tasset I*, Arias E, Koga H, Fernández-Carasa I, Cortes E, Honing LS, Dauer W, Consiglio A, Raya A, Sulzer D, Cuervo AM. Interplay of LRRK2 with chaperone-mediated autophagy. Nat Neurosci 16(4):394-406, 2013 (*co-second author). Featured: News and Views • the NIH Director Blog • Faculty of 1000 recommened.

Tasset-Cuevas I, Fernández-Bedmar Z, Lozano-Baena MD, Campos-Sánchez J, de Haro-Bailón A, Muñoz-Serrano A, Alonso-Moraga A. Protective effect of Borage seed oil and gamma-linolenic acid on DNA: In vivo and in vitro studies. PLoS One 8(2):e56986, 2013.