Publications by authors named "Matthew R Lum"

Neurons use cell-adhesion molecules (CAMs) to interact with other neurons and the extracellular environment: the combination of CAMs specifies migration patterns, neuronal morphologies, and synaptic connections across diverse neuron types. Yet little is known regarding the intracellular signaling cascade mediating the CAM recognitions at the cell surface across different neuron types. In this study, we investigated the neural developmental role of Afadin , a cytosolic adapter protein that connects multiple CAM families to intracellular F-actin.

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Diverse retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) transmit distinct visual features from the eye to the brain. Recent studies have categorized RGCs into 45 types in mice based on transcriptomic profiles, showing strong alignment with morphological and electrophysiological properties. However, little is known about how these types are spatially arranged on the two-dimensional retinal surface-an organization that influences visual encoding-and how their local microenvironments impact development and neurodegenerative responses.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers looked at how certain nerve cells in the eye, called retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), react to different types of damage like glaucoma and acute injuries.
  • They found that some special types of RGCs, like αRGCs, are better at surviving in glaucoma conditions compared to when they are injured by cutting.
  • A protein called Osteopontin (Spp1) helps these αRGCs stay alive, and when there's not enough Spp1, those RGCs start to die off, showing that Spp1 is really important for helping RGCs survive glaucoma.
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