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April 23, 2007
NIH Awards $7.39 Million to Burnham Neurobiologists
Funding will support critical understanding of brain development and demyelinating disease
Glial cells are at the center of most functions of the nervous system. They outnumber neurons (nerve cells) in the brain and spinal cord by a factor of 10:1 and provide physical and nutritional support for neurons. They are also believed to guide the migration of neurons during development and to regulate the chemical environment surrounding synapses in the adult brain. And yet, little is known about the molecular mechanisms by which glial cells communicate with neurons and how the failure of such communication leads to neurological diseases. New studies underway at Burnham are addressing this information gap.
“The study of neuron-glia communication is a rapidly emerging field in basic neurobiology. It also has strong relevance to demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and neuropathies,” said project director Yu Yamaguchi, M.D., Ph.D. Myelin is the protective sheath coating nerve fibers, and the damage or loss of myelin (demyelination) severely impairs the ability of nerve fibers to conduct electrical signals. Multiple sclerosis is the most well known of the so-called demyelinating diseases. “With this funding, we expect to resolve how glial cells function in the normal brain. But also, we hope to provide new insights into the mechanisms of demyelinating diseases,” said Yamaguchi.
In this NIH-funded project, Dr. Yamaguchi, who is a Professor in Burnham’s Glycobiology Program, leads a team including four other faculty members at the Institute: Professor William Stallcup, Ph.D., Professor Elena Pasquale, Ph.D., Professor Barbara Ranscht, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor Dongxian Zhang, Ph.D. This is a mature collaboration: the members of this team have worked together for more than 10 years as a highly interactive group at Burnham. Their work has contributed key findings about the formation of nerve cell circuitry, synaptic functions, proliferation and migration of nerve cells, helping to advance medical researchers’ understanding of normal brain development as well as cancer and degenerative diseases of the brain.
Burnham Institute for Medical Research is an independent non-profit research institution dedicated to advancing the frontiers of scientific knowledge in the life sciences and medicine, and providing the foundation for tomorrow's innovative therapies. The Institute is home to three major centers: the National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center, the Del E. Webb Center for Neuroscience and Aging Research, and the Infectious and Inflammatory Disease Center. Established in 1976 in La Jolla, California, Burnham today employs over 750 people and ranks consistently among the world's top 20 research institutes in independent surveys conducted by the Institute for Scientific Information. Burnham recently announced plans to open a campus in Orlando, Florida that will extend the Institute's capabilities in drug discovery and genomics, as well as expand its research to cover more types of diseases. For additional information about Burnham and to learn about ways to support its research, visit www.burnham.org.
