Summary of Research and Future Directions

My research has been focused in the study of cortical circuits both in normal and pathological conditions, with particular insight in human temporal lobe epilepsy and hippocampal damage.
My current interest is related to the study of how new neurons are generated postnatally in limbic regions both in rodents and primates and how they integrate in mature circuits.

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Summary of Research and Future Directions

My research focuses on neocortical abnormalities of neuronal specification caused by genetic or environmental factors during the early period of gestation. Disregulation of cellular processes, such as proliferation and differentiation, at the onset of neurogenesis when the substratum of intellectual activity is beginning to form, could cause localized (e.g. subcortical heterotopias) or diffuse anomalies suspected in mental disorders. I use a multidisciplinary comparative approach to study these processes in rodents and primates. Additional interests include the application of advanced microscopy techniques for the qualitative and quantitative study of molecular and genetic processes.

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Summary of Research and Future Directions

Cancer Fellowship, UCHSC, Summer 2002 - Heidenreich Lab, Rakic Lab 2003-2005

Summary of Research and Future Directions

My research is concentrated on the molecular regulation of neurogenesis, particularly postnatally. This involves analysis of rodent, primate, and human neurogenic regions as well as analogous regions in several non-mammalian species. Currently, I am looking at several key regulators of neurogenesis during corticogenesis and how they function postnatally in the hippocampus and subependymal zone surrounding the lateral ventricles. It is hoped that understanding the fundamental molecular regulation of neurogenesis will translate to clinical therapies for combating neurodegenerative disease and brain trauma. Alternate interests include apparent cell cycle dysregulation in neurodegenerative disease and characterization of conditional KO mice with defects in neurogenesis.

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Summary of Research and Future Directions

Training of non-Human primates, ultrasound, in utero electroporation.

Summary of Research and Future Directions

Research of Human and non-Human primate primate brains, Stereology.

Summary of Research and Future Directions

Molecular Mechanisms of Radial Migration in the Cerebral Cortex

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Summary of Research and Future Directions

Neurotransmitter signaling on the modulation of proliferation and migration of embryonic neocortex

Summary of Research and Future Directions

Many years of experience in the field of electron microscopy lend to expertise in the methods of pre- and postembedding immunolabeling. This also let me introduce to Yale for the first time the method of three-dimensional reconstruction of large cell fragments such as neuron cell bodies or dendrites from serial EM images.

In co-authorship with Dr. T. Freund (Institute of Experimental Medicine,Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest), I demonstrated translocation of cholecystokinin-containing basket interneurons in the postnatal rat hippocampal formation. My research in Dr. P. Rakic's lab is focused on the development of cerebral cortical interneurons. Currently, I am examining the postnatal migration of interneurons of distinct neurochemical types. Synaptic interconnection of migrating cells is in the focus of attention as well.

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Summary of Research and Future Directions

Molecular Mechanisms of areal specification in the neocortex and formation thalamocortical connections.