Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) Makes Complex Contributions to Pain-Related Hyperactivity of Nociceptors after Spinal Cord Injury.

Neuropathic pain is a major, inadequately treated challenge for people with spinal cord injury (SCI). While SCI pain mechanisms are often assumed to be in the CNS, rodent studies have revealed mechanistic contributions from primary nociceptors. These neurons become chronically hyperexcitable after SCI, generating ongoing electrical activity that promotes ongoing pain.

Effects of Remote Ischemic Conditioning on Hand Engagement in individuals with Spinal cord Injury (RICHES): protocol for a pilot crossover study.

​​​​​​ : Most spinal cord injuries (SCI) are not full transections, indicating that residual nerve circuits are retained. Rehabilitation interventions have been shown to beneficially reorganize motor pathways in the brain, corticospinal tract, and at the spinal level. However, rehabilitation training require a large number of repetitions, and intervention effects may be absent or show transient retention.

3-Dimensional Printed Alternative to the Standard Synthetic Flocked Nasopharyngeal Swabs Used for Coronavirus Disease 2019 Testing.

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), can be detected in respiratory samples by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or other molecular methods. Accessibility of diagnostic testing for COVID-19 has been limited by intermittent shortages of supplies required for testing, including flocked nasopharyngeal (FLNP) swabs.

Methods: We developed a 3-dimensional printed nasopharyngeal (3DP) swab as a replacement of the FLNP swab.

Acute Manipulations of Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis at Presynaptic Nerve Terminals.

Acute perturbations of clathrin and associated proteins at synapses have provided a wealth of knowledge on the molecular mechanisms underlying clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME). The basic approach entails presynaptic microinjection of an inhibitory reagent targeted to the CME pathway, followed by a detailed ultrastructural analysis to identify how the perturbation affects the number and distribution of synaptic vesicles, plasma membrane, clathrin-coated pits, and clathrin-coated vesicles. This chapter describes the methodology for acutely perturbing CME at the lamprey giant reticulospinal synapse, a model vertebrate synapse that has been instrumental for identifying key protein-protein interactions that regulate CME in presynaptic nerve terminals with broader extension to nonneuronal cell types.

Sequencing of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) genome provides insights into vertebrate evolution.

Lampreys are representatives of an ancient vertebrate lineage that diverged from our own ∼500 million years ago. By virtue of this deeply shared ancestry, the sea lamprey (P. marinus) genome is uniquely poised to provide insight into the ancestry of vertebrate genomes and the underlying principles of vertebrate biology.

Regeneration in the era of functional genomics and gene network analysis.

What gives an organism the ability to regrow tissues and to recover function where another organism fails is the central problem of regenerative biology. The challenge is to describe the mechanisms of regeneration at the molecular level, delivering detailed insights into the many components that are cross-regulated. In other words, a broad, yet deep dissection of the system-wide network of molecular interactions is needed.

Membrane trafficking events underlying axon repair, growth, and regeneration.

Two central challenges for the field of neurobiology are to understand how axons grow and make proper synaptic connections under normal conditions and how they repair their membranes and mount regenerative responses after injury. At the most reductionist level, the first step toward addressing these challenges is to delineate the cellular and molecular processes by which an axon extends from its cell body. Underlying axon extension are questions of appropriate timing and mechanisms that establish or maintain the axon's polarity, initiate growth cone formation, and promote axon outgrowth and synapse formation.