Contact Points
Radnor, PA 19087
United States of America
In the central nervous system, oligodendrocytes are cells responsible for producing myelin, the insulation around electrically active axons of neurons. Myelin facilitates fast electrical conductance in an analogous way as rubber insulation around electrical wiring. Proper development and maintenance of oligodendrocytes has important implications on demyelinating disease, including multiple sclerosis, a disease in which immune cells attack and destroy myelin, and leukodystrophies, childhood diseases in which myelin fails to form properly leading to progressive disability. In addition, recent studies also support a role for oligodendrocytes in psychiatric disease and in memory, including in Alzheimer’s disease.
Our lab focuses on understanding the cell biology and building blocks of the oligodendrocyte, and how they contribute to normal brain function and disease. The oligodendrocyte is a cell that is shaped like a tree, with many branches that terminate to form myelin sheaths, which wrap concentrically around the axon in many layers, much like a long paper towel roll or a bolt of fabric. Our questions primarily underly the structure of these branches – microtubules that form the roads of these cells – and the cargos that travel along them, including organelles and mRNA genetic messages.
One key finding of our lab is that normal proteins that function to build microtubules in oligodendrocytes may aberrantly aggregate in neurological diseases, such as multiple system atrophy (MSA) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In order to model these diseases in rodents without using transgenic models (i.e., for diseases without a known genetic cause), we need a reproducible and accurate way to inject disease-causing materials into mouse brains.
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