J. Paul Taylor, M.D., Ph.D.

J. Paul Taylor, M.D., Ph.D.

Adjunct Member/Professor
Department of Pediatrics
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center


Primary Appointment: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
262 Danny Thomas Place
Memphis, TN 38105-3678
Phone: (901) 595-6047
Fax: (901) 595-5947
Email: J. Paul Taylor



Education

  • M.D./Ph.D. Institution: Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA
  • Neurology Residency: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
  • Neurogenetics Fellowship: Neurogenetics Branch, NINDS/NIH

Link

Research Interests

The principal goal of our research is to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with neurological disease. Toward this end we:

  • Use in vitro and in vivo modeling to elucidate the molecular basis of neuronal dysfunction and neuronal loss in neurological diseases
  • Use the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to apply the power of genetics to illuminate the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration
  • Investigate the molecular genetics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia, inclusion body myopathy and polyglutamine disease
  • Screen small molecules to identify compounds that can be translated to clinical use

Representative Publications

  • Benatar M, Wuu J, Fernandez C, Weihl CC, Katzen H, Steele J, Oskarsson B, Taylor JP. Motor neuron involvement in multisystem proteinopathy: Implications for ALS. Neurology. 2013 May 14;80(20):1874-80. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182929fc3. Epub 2013 May 1. PubMed PMID: 23635965.
  • Kim NC, Tresse E, Kolaitis RM, Molliex A, Thomas RE, Alami NH, Wang B, Joshi A, Smith RB, Ritson GP, Winborn BJ, Moore J, Lee JY, Yao TP, Pallanck L, Kundu M, Taylor JP. VCP Is Essential for Mitochondrial Quality Control by PINK1/Parkin and this Function Is Impaired by VCP Mutations. Neuron. 2013 Apr 10;78(1):65-80. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.02.029. Epub 2013 Mar 14. PubMed PMID: 23498974.
  • Taylor JP. Neuroscience. RNA that gets RAN in neurodegeneration. Science. 2013 Mar 15;339(6125):1282-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1236450. PubMed PMID: 23493702.
  • Kim HJ, Kim NC, Wang YD, Scarborough EA, Moore J, Diaz Z, MacLea KS, Freibaum B, Li S, Molliex A, Kanagaraj AP, Carter R, Boylan KB, Wojtas AM, Rademakers R, Pinkus JL, Greenberg SA, Trojanowski JQ, Traynor BJ, Smith BN, Topp S, Gkazi AS, Miller J, Shaw CE, Kottlors M, Kirschner J, Pestronk A, Li YR, Ford AF, Gitler AD, Benatar M, King OD, Kimonis VE, Ross ED, Weihl CC, Shorter J, Taylor JP. Mutations in prion-like domains in hnRNPA2B1 and hnRNPA1 cause multisystem proteinopathy and ALS. Nature. 2013 Mar 28;495(7442):467-73. doi: 10.1038/nature11922. Epub 2013 Mar 3. PubMed PMID: 23455423.
  • Nedelsky NB, Pennuto M, Smith RB, Palazzolo I, Moore J, Nie Z, Neale G, Taylor JP. Native functions of the androgen receptor are essential to pathogenesis in a Drosophila model of spinobulbar muscular atrophy. Neuron. 2010 Sep 23;67(6):936-52. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.08.034. PubMed PMID: 20869592; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3514079.
  • Custer SK, Neumann M, Lu H, Wright AC, Taylor JP. Transgenic mice expressing mutant forms VCP/p97 recapitulate the full spectrum of IBMPFD including degeneration in muscle, brain and bone. Hum Mol Genet. 2010 May 1;19(9):1741-55. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddq050. Epub 2010 Feb 10. PubMed PMID: 20147319.

View more references (pubmed link)