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Albumin may be involved in neurotrauma-related epilepsy. Hanta Ralay Ranaivo, PhD

An embedded silencing vector may be ideal for gene silencing. Christina Khodr, PhD

Faculty

  • Martha C. Bohn, PhD, Medical Research Institute Council Professor in Pediatrics
  • Maria Dizon, MD
  • Leon Epstein, MD, Derry A. and Donald L. Shoemaker Professor of Pediatric Neurology
  • Aleksandra Glavaski-Joksimovic, PhD
  • Sookyong Koh, MD, PhD
  • Hanta Ralay Ranaivo, PhD
  • Charu Venkatesan, MD, PhD
  • Mark Wainwright, MD, PhD, Bernard L. Mirkin Research Scholar
  • Associate Faculty
  • Rajesh Awatramani, PhD
  • Lise Eliot, PhD
  • Laura Herzing, PhD, Ann Marie and Francis Klocke, MD Research Scholar in Human Molecular Genetics
  • Philip Hockberger, PhD
  • Jhumku Kohtz, PhD
  • Honglin Li, PhD
  • C. Shekhar Mayanil, PhD, Eleanor Clarke Research Scholar in Developmental Neurobiology
  • Richard Miller, PhD
  • Hande Ozdinler, PhD
  • Daniel Peterson, PhD
  • Sheila Wang, PhD
  • Jane Wu, MD, PhD

Research Honors

  • Martha C. Bohn was an invited keynote speaker Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clinica Meeting, Mar del Plata, Argentina.
  • Bohn’s group received a U.S. patent for “Tetracycline-regulated adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors for gene delivery to the nervous system”.
  • Aleksandra Glavski-Joksimovic moved to a tenure track faculty position at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
  • Sookyong Koh was a co-organizer and moderator of the annual Dravet Syndrome Foundation Research Roundtable of the American Epilepsy Society.
  • Hanta Ralay Ranaivo was promoted to Assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics.
  • Charu Venkatesan received a Child Neurology Foundation award for 2011–2012.
  • Mark Wainwright received an award for outstanding contributions to research, education and clinical service from the Department of Pediatrics at the Feinberg School.
  • Wainwright served on the Executive Committee, Pediatric Neurocritical Care Research Group and chaired its Bioinformatics Committee.
  • Wainwright was a workgroup member, Demographics and Acute Clinical Assessment, Common Data Elements for Research on Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, sponsored by the NIH and Department of Defense. He served as the co-chair of the Common Data Elements for Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Workgroup, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
  • Wainwright serves as fellowship director and medical director of the Pediatric Neurocritical Care Program at Children’s Memorial Hospital.

Neurobiology

Scientists in the Neurobiology Program engage in research to define molecular processes critical to development, degeneration and regeneration of cells in the nervous system, with the aim of developing novel therapies for diseases and injuries of the human nervous system.

The program integrates research and training in mechanisms of brain injury and therapeutic development with clinical studies in pediatric neurology and neonatology.

Our scientists are exploring several key aspects of signal transduction, the method by which protein signals outside a cell cause changes in gene expression inside the cell nucleus. These signals are critical to normal development. Studying them allows us to uncover and understand the disturbance and disruptions in genes during development that may cause birth defects, cancer and other childhood diseases.

2011 in Review

Trainees present in the program’s research hour. Talks are supplemented by faculty and clinical fellow presentations.

The Chicago Neural Repair Club featured eight seminars on epilepsy, gene and stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, cortical development and approaches to spinal cord repair.

The Bohn laboratory is developing gene and stem cell therapies for Parkinson’s disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and head trauma.

Maria Dizon is studying the development of oligodendrocytes, cells that form the white matter of the brain, and the impact of hypoxic injury in the preterm and newborn brain.

Leon Epstein investigates the impact of viral infections on the developing nervous system and is identifying biomarkers of neurological status in HIV infection.

The Koh laboratory conducts research on the role of the immune system in the progression of epilepsy, and is developing novel treatments to minimize the detrimental effects of seizures in children.

The Wainwright laboratory is studying the role of glial cells in traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic epilepsy, and improving therapies for acute brain injury in children.

Wainwright is developing a database of pediatric clinical data in Xenobase. The database is designed to support research projects of both clinical and basic scientists.

Charu Venkatesan, working in the Kessler laboratory, studies oligodendrocyte and astrocyte response to perinatal hypoxic ischemic injury, with the goal of developing novel therapies for preterm and term infants who have sustained brain injury.

Impact:

An embedded silencing vector may be ideal for gene silencing. Over-expression of human SNCA (hSNCA), a protein that has been implicated in Parkinson’s disease (PD), leads to death of dopaminergic (DA) neurons. hSNCA gene silencing may reduce toxic forms of SNCA and ameliorate DA neuron degeneration. The Bohn laboratory designed two gene silencing vectors, both of which silenced hSNCA equally. The vector that was embedded in a microRNA backbone was significantly less toxic to cells.

Albumin may be involved in neurotrauma-related epilepsy. The use of albumin as a resuscitation fluid is considered safe for most critically ill patients. However, clinical data suggest albumin may increase mortality in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The laboratory of Mark Wainwright showed that in primary astrocyte cultures, albumin plays a role in neurotrauma-related epileptogenesis.

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