Lein Lab
The functional properties of the vertebrate nervous system depend upon the neuronal connections formed during development. Two critical developmental events that determine neuronal connectivity include the projection of axons to selective targets and the elaboration of the neuron’s primary receptive surface, the dendritic arbor. The major goal of this laboratory is to identify and characterize factors that modulate axonal and dendritic growth during normal development and assess the role of such factors as targets for environmental contaminants with neurotoxic potential. The specific questions we are currently pursuing in the lab are:
- What role do trophic factors and cytokines play in modulating dendritic growth?
- How do neurotoxic environmental contaminants alter developmental processes that underlie neuronal connectivity?
To address these questions we employ a variety of techniques ranging from microarray analyses to primary neuronal cell culture to transgenic animals.
