# First person – Vranda Garg

## TL;DR

This paper explores how a specific mutation in the Tomm70 protein leads to neurodegeneration, as studied by Vranda Garg during her PhD.

## Contribution

The study identifies a patient-specific mutation in Tomm70 linked to neurodegeneration using zebrafish models.

## Key findings

- A mutation in the Tomm70 protein was found to cause neurodegeneration in zebrafish models.
- The research provides insights into the molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders.
- The findings highlight the role of contact site proteins in neurological health.

## Abstract

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Vranda Garg is first author on ‘
Patient-specific mutation of contact site protein Tomm70 causes neurodegeneration’, published in DMM. Vranda conducted the research described in this article while a PhD student in Dr Bart Geurten and Dr Roland Dosch's lab at Georg-August-University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, and is now a postdoc in the lab of Dr Eric Samarut at University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, Canada, investigating the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative and neurological disorders using zebrafish models.