# First person – Mikiko Oka

## TL;DR

This paper discusses how glucose uptake in pigment glia helps suppress Tau-induced inflammation and photoreceptor degeneration.

## Contribution

The study reveals a novel role of glucose uptake in pigment glia in mitigating Tau-induced neurodegeneration.

## Key findings

- Glucose uptake in pigment glia suppresses Tau-induced inflammation.
- This process prevents photoreceptor degeneration in the model system.
- The findings suggest a potential therapeutic target for neurodegenerative diseases.

## 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. Mikiko Oka is first author on ‘
Glucose uptake in pigment glia suppresses Tau-induced inflammation and photoreceptor degeneration’, published in DMM. Mikiko conducted the research described in this article while a graduate student in Kanae Ando's lab at the Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan. She is now a postdoc in the lab of Shinya Yamamoto at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA, investigating age-associated human diseases by using Drosophila models.