Education

• M.D. Institution: Jinzhou Medical University, P.R.China
• Ph.D. Institution: Dept. of Neuroscience, Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, Sweden
• Postdoctoral: Krembil Neuroscience Centre, Applied and Interventional Division, Toronto Western Hospital Research Institute, University of Toronto

Research Interests

Neuronal loss is one of the key underlying features of the debilitating effects of several neurological disorders such as epilepsy, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. At present, there is no cure for any of these neurodegenerative diseases and there are no successful treatments. My research area is centered in investigating the mechanism of neuronal degeneration and neuron and glial interaction during the development or after lesions.

The genetic endowment of a neuron and a neuron’s environment are two major factors that determine susceptibility to insults that cause neurodegeneration. It has been show that kainic acid, an agonist for the AMPA/kainate type of glutamate receptor, induced the hippocampal pyramidal cell death is mouse strain background dependent. We use experimental mouse chimera’s model to study the cellular target of kainic acid-induced neurodegeneraton.

Glia play key role in the neuron development and differentiations, those non-neuronal cells provide trophic and physical support for neurons developing, migration and synase formation. Infantile gliosis mouse model and siRNA techniques give us a great research tool for understanding the mechanism of neuronal development.

Recent Publications

• Tong Y, Ha TJ, Liu L, Nishimoto A, Reiner A, Goldowitz D. Spatial and temporal requirements for huntingtin (Htt) in neuronal migration and survival during brain development. J Neurosci. 2011 Oct 12;31(41):14794-9. PMID: 21994396
• Dragatsis I, Goldowitz D, Del Mar N, Deng YP, Meade CA, Liu L, Sun Z, Dietrich P, Yue J, Reiner A. CAG repeat lengths > or =335 attenuate the phenotype in the R6/2 Huntington's disease transgenic mouse. Neurobiol Dis. 2009 Mar;33(3):315-30. Epub 2008 Nov 6. PMID: 19027857
• Liu L, Geisert EE, Frankfurter A, Spano AJ, Jiang CX, Yue J, Dragatsis I, Goldowitz D. A transgenic mouse class-III beta tubulin reporter using yellow fluorescent protein. Genesis. 2007 Sep;45(9):560-9. PMID: 17868115

View complete list of references (pubmed link).

Contact Us

Anatomy and Neurobiology

855 Monroe Avenue
Memphis, TN 38163
Phone: (901) 448-5965
Fax: (901) 448-7193

Simon R. Bruesch
Professor and Chair
Matthew Ennis, Ph.D.
Email: Matthew Ennis