Research in our laboratory utilizes dynamic imaging in live brain tissue slices to study the development and remodeling of neurons and glia in the mammalian CNS. These studies address mechanisms of neural development as well as cellular responses to tissue injury. Our current projects span three major areas:

(1) Neuronal synapse formation and plasticity during development and in neuropathological conditions such as stroke and epilepsy. (2) Microglial activation and motility following brain tissue injury. (3) Astrocyte development and remodeling.

These studies employ techniques including biolistic mediated gene transfection, time-lapse fluorescence confocal imaging, and quantitative fluorescence photobleaching recovery (FRAP) in rat and mouse hippocampal tissue slices.

Recent publications