Biomedical Research - Ongoing Projects

The Neurobiology of Developmental Disorders program has evolved over the years from a program that focused initially on lysosomal storage diseases to a more broadly based program emphasizing developmental neurobiology in all of its ramifications. The Biomedical program has evolved a true multidisciplinary approach: Biochemical, morphological, immunological, and cell and molecular biological concepts and methodologies are employed in a combined attack on problems related to mental retardation. Animal models are emphasized to ask relevant basic scientific questions.

Most cases of mental retardation are thought to arise from genetic or epigenetic defects in development of the brain during prenatal development. Often the most severe cases of mental retardation result from molecular and cellular defects that occur earliest in development. Biomedical researchers at the Center study important milestones that must occur in an ordered sequence of time and space during the development of the brain. These include the birth of new brain cells, the mixing and movement of those cells to their proper location, the connection (synapse formation) of those cells to one another. Researchers use a variety of cutting edge methodologies to make advances in their individual research including: production of transgenic animals, state-of-the-art tissue culture methods, techniques for producing high-resolution images of biological material, and the use of sophisticated analytical instrumentation to address question on molecular structure. The collective goal is to be a leading resource of research and discovery related to brain development and to seek new approaches to the prevention and diagnosis of mental retardation.

Also within the biomedical division is a program of research in glycobiology that studies the role of cell surface glycoconjugates in preventing disease and promoting healthy development and clinical research in medical genetics which seeks to develop and perfect new assays essential to the prevention and diagnosis of neurogenetic disease.

Alternative Splicing
Athena Andreadis

Alternative Splicing of the Human Tau Gene: Regulatory Mechanisms, Protien Isoforms and Repercussions on Normal Brain Function and Dementia
Athena Andreadis

Development of the Cerebral Cortex
James E. Crandall

Prenatal Cocaine Exposure Affects Forebrain Development
James E. Crandall

Role of Dopamine in the Regulation of Neuorgenesis and Neuronal Migration in Forebrain Development
James Crandall

Vitamin-A Actions in the Developing Retina and Forebrain
Ursula Dräger

Normal and Abnormal Visual System
Ursula Dräger

Vitamin A and the Developing Eye
Ursula Dräger

Glycan Function in Nervous System Development
Timothy Henion

Notch Modulation of Olfactory Progenitor Cell Fate
Timothy Henion

Amphoterin, RAGE and Sulfoglucuronyl Carbohydrate Regulate Neuronal Migration in the CNS
Firoze B. Jungalwala

Biochemical and Genetic Aspects of Mental Retardation: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Migration
Firoze B. Jungalwala