cell and molecular biology of neural progenitors/stem cells development of mammalian central nervous system culture and manipulation of mouse embryonic stem cells directed differentiation of stem cells cellular and molecular mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease

Our Research seeks to understand the molecular mechanisms regulating neural stem cell function in development and disease. Neural stem cells have the capacity to self-renew, as well as differentiate into all the cells of the nervous system (neurons and glia). Therefore understanding how neural stem cell fate is regulated has implications for normal and abnormal development as well as neurodegenerative diseases.

We employ a number of in vivo and in vitro approaches. One major focus is on the post-translational regulation of neural stem cells, by the deubiquitylating enzyme, Usp9x. We differentiate mouse stem cells in vitro to identify Usp9X substrates critical to the regulation of neural development. We have also generated an in vivo model to investigate Usp9x function in neural stem cells and neurons.

We also work on identifying molecules leading to the development or progression of Parkinson’s disease. In these experiments human olfactory neurosphere-derived cells from patients are used to study genes and cell functions specifically affected in patients’ cells.