APOM’s Research Center

Selva Baltan

"Research is very prominent at APOM, which makes us very unique. While our work is diversified, we mostly focus on Neuroscience. Clinicians and basic science scientists are harbored at the Center to research neurological diseases like dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and pain."

Dr. Baltan, Professor and Vice-Chair for Research of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine (APOM), joined OHSU in 2019 and leads the department’s Research Center. The focus of her lab is on elucidating the mechanisms of protection and preconditioning conferred by Class I HDAC inhibition in young and aging white matter and the gene regulatory mechanisms underlying this protective phenomenon.

Their studies on the role of protein acetylation and mitochondrial dynamics in white matter stroke expands their findings to neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer ’s disease that involve white matter. The research in her lab is funded by multiple NIH grants.

The experimental approaches in her lab include optic nerve and corpus callosum slice models, employing electrophysiological recordings, and advanced microscopy techniques such as confocal, two-photon microscopy and 3D electron microscopy.