 Current research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying: 1) central nervous system (CNS) myelination and demyelination and, 2) neuroinflammation relevant to degenerative diseases and brain injury. Specific projects utilize primary cell culture and animal models (i.e., mutant/knockout and induced) to investigate signal transduction mechanisms that regulate: 1) the development, differentiation and death of oligodendrocytes, a specialized glial cell type that is responsible for the formation and maintenance of CNS myelin and also the target of immune attack in multiple sclerosis and, 2) the activation and inflammatory responses of astrocytes and microglia, the two immune-regulatory cells of the CNS. In addition, we are interested in neuroglial stem cells with respect to their lineage determination and malignant transformation (gliomagenesis) due to dysregulated growth factor signaling.
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