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 · The goals of my laboratory are to clarify the molecular mechanisms that control the growth of axons from nerve cells, and to harness that information to create novel therapies for nervous system injury.
· Taking advantage of recent advances in automated microscopy, we use high content analysis to rapidly test hundreds of candidate genes in cultured neurons. These culture experiments identify novel genes that can block or stimulate axon outgrowth.
· Because we believe that combinations of genes will be most effective, we work to develop molecular tools that can overexpress and/or knock down multiple gene targets in a single cell.
· We are currently testing candidate genes in a model of spinal cord injury in rodents. We use lentiviral particles to deliver our overexpression or knockdown constructs to corticospinal motor neurons, and then assess whether these gene manipulations promote axon regeneration after spinal injury.
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