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Hometown: Tracy, California Undergrad University: San Francisco State University Undergraduate Major: Animal Physiology Graduate Advisor: Dr. Holly Colognato Graduate Program: Pharmacological Sciences email: tom at pharm.stonybrook.edu

Research Interests: 'The role of ß1 integrin and neuregulin in oligodendrocyte development and CNS myelination'

Oligodendrocytes have an essential physiological role in myelinating axons of the central nervous system. The myelination process is needed in order for neuron networks to communicate via saltatory conduction, a process that enables rapid propagation of action potentials traveling down axons. The physiological importance of CNS myelination is clearly revealed in human disease such as multiple sclerosis where loss of myelin leads to irreversible neurological damage. Myelination is thus essential for proper neurophysiological function, but the precise molecular mechanisms underlying the myelination process remain poorly understood. One potential effector molecule, the ß1 integrin, a laminin receptor, has been suggested to play a critical role in CNS myelination. In addition, these oligodendrocytes have been found to be exquisitely sensitive to environmental agents that chelate copper cations. Treatment of rodents with dietary copper chelating agents such as cuprizone can elicit a rapid demyelination in particular white matter tracts of the brain. And, this demyelination has a window of reversibility in which withdrawal of the cuprizone permits remyelination. However, prolonged treatment with cuprizone causes a chronic state of demyelination in which the window of repair is lost and axons irreversibly degenerate. Using these paradigms of cuprizone-mediated acute and chronic demyelination will allow us to then test the role of particular oligodendrocyte receptors and associated signaling molecules in these degenerative or repair processes.