Publications

2024

Astrocyte growth is driven by the Tre1/S1pr1 phospholipid-binding G protein-coupled receptor. 
Chen J, Stork T, Kang Y, Nardone KAM, Auer F, Farrell RJ, Jay TR, Heo D, Sheehan A, Paton C, Nagel KI, Schoppik D, Monk KR, Freeman MR.
Neuron. 2024 Jan 3;112(1):93-112.e10.

PMID: 38096817

2023

Glial TGFβ activity promotes neuron survival in peripheral nerves.
Lassetter AP, Corty MM, Barria R, Sheehan AE, Hill JQ, Aicher SA, Fox AN, Freeman MR.
J Cell Biol. 2023 Jan 2;222(1):e202111053.
PMID: 36399182

2022

Discoidin domain receptor regulates ensheathment, survival and caliber of peripheral axons.
Corty MM, Hulegaard AL, Hill JQ, Sheehan AE, Aicher SA, Freeman MR.
Development.
2022 Dec 1;149(23):dev200636
PMID: 36355066

Astrocytic GABA transporter controls sleep by modulating GABAergic signaling in Drosophila circadian neurons.
Chaturvedi R, Stork T, Yuan C, Freeman MR, Emery P.
Curr Biol.
2022 May 9;32(9):1895-1908.e5.
PMID: 35303417

2021

An ELISA-based method for rapid genetic screens in Drosophila.
Jay TR, Kang Y, Jefferson A, Freeman MR.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Oct 26;118(43):e2107427118.
PMID: 34686600

SARM1 signaling mechanisms in the injured nervous system
Sambashivan S, Freeman MR
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2021 Jun 24;69:247-255
PMID: 34175654

TSG101 negatively regulates mitochondrial biogenesis in axons
Lin TH, Bis-Brewer DM, Sheehan AE, Townsend LN, Maddison DC, Züchner S, Smith GA, Freeman MR
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2021 May 18;118(20):e2018770118
PMID: 33972422

Astrocytes close a motor circuit critical period
Ackerman SD, Perez-Catalan NA, Freeman MR, Doe CQ
Nature 2021 Apr;592(7854):414-420
PMID: 33828296

Injury-induced inhibition of bystander neurons requires dSarm and signaling from glia
Hsu JM, Kang Y, Corty MM, Mathieson D, Peters OM, Freeman MR
Neuron 2021 Feb 3;109(3):473-487.e5
PMID: 33296670

2020

TrpML-mediated astrocyte microdomain Ca2+ transients regulate astrocyte-tracheal interactions
Ma Z, Freeman MR
eLife 2020 Dec 7;9:e58952
PMID: 33284108

Live-imaging of astrocyte morphogenesis and function in zebrafish neural circuits
Chen J, Poskanzer KE, Freeman MR, Monk KR
Nature Neurosci. 2020 Oct;23(10):1297-1306
PMID:32895565

2019

Polymodal nociception in Drosophila requires alternative splicing of TrpA1
Gu P, Gong J, Shang Y, Wang F, Ruppell KT, Ma Z, Sheehan AE, Freeman MR, Xiang Y
Curr Biol. 2019 Dec 2;29(23):3961-3973.e6
PMID:31735672

Neural JNK3 regulates blood flow recovery after hindlimb ischemia in mice via an Egr1/Creb1 axis
Kant S, Craige SM, Chen K, Reif MM, Learnard H, Kelly M, Caliz AD, Tran KV, Ramo K, Peters OM, Freeman M, Davis RJ, Keaney JF Jr
Nat Commun. 2019 Sep 17;10(1):4223
PMID:31530804

Glutathione S-transferase regulates mitochondrial populations in axons through increased glutathione oxidation
Smith GA, Lin TH, Sheehan AE, Van der Goes van Naters W, Neukomm LJ, Graves HK, Bis-Brewer DM, Züchner S, Freeman MR
Neuron 2019 Jul 3;103(1):52-65.e6
PMID:31101394

2018

Focal adhesion molecules regulate astrocyte morphology and glutamate transporters to suppress seizure-like behavior
Cho S, Muthukumar AK, Stork T, Coutinho-Budd JC and Freeman MR
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2018 Oct 30;115(44):11316-11321
PMID:30327343 

Loss of Sarm1 does not suppress motor neuron degeneration in the SOD1G93A mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Peters OM, Lewis EA, Osterloh JM, Weiss A, Salameh JS, Metterville J, Brown RH and Freeman MR
Hum Mol Genet. 2018 Nov 1;27(21):3761-3771
PMID:30010873

Transcription factor Pebbled/RREB1 regulates injury-induced axon degeneration
Farley JE, Burdett TC, Barria R, Neukomm LJ, Kenna KP, Landers JE and Freeman MR
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2018 Feb 6;115(6):1358-1363
PMID:29295933

2017

The secreted neurotrophin spätzle 3 promotes glial morphogenesis and supports neuronal survival and function
Coutinho-Budd JC, Sheehan AE and Freeman MR
Genes Dev. 2017 Oct 15;31(20):2023-2038
PMID:29138279

Axon death pathways converge on Axundead to promote functional and structural axon disassembly
Neukomm LJ, Burdett TC, Seeds AM, Hampel S, Coutinho-Budd JC, Farley JE, Wong J, Karadeniz YB, Osterloh JM, Sheehan AE and Freeman MR
Neuron 2017 Jul 5;95(1):78-91.e5
PMID:28683272

Axon degeneration induces glial responses through Draper-TRAF4-JNK signalling
Lu TY, MacDonald JM, Neukomm LJ, Sheehan AE, Bradshaw R, Logan MA and Freeman MR
Nat Commun. 2017 Feb 6;8:14355
PMID:28165006

2016

Neuromodulators signal through astrocytes to alter neural circuit activity and behaviour
Ma Z, Stork T, Bergles DE and Freeman MR
Nature 2016 Nov 17;539(7629):428-432
PMID:27828941

Prevalent presence of periodic actin-spectrin-based membrance skeleton in a broad range of neuronal cell types and animal species
He J, Zhou R, Wu Z, Carrasco MA, Kurshan PT, Farley JE, Simon DJ, Wang G, Han B, Hao J, Heller E, Freeman MR, Shen K, Maniatis T, Tessier-Lavigne M and Zhuang X
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2016 May 24;113(21):6029-6034
PMID:27162329

Dendrites actively restrain axon outgrowth and regeneration
Francis MM and Freeman MR
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2016 May 17;113(20):5465-5466
PMID:27147603

Attenuated traumatic axonal injury and improved functional outcome after traumatic brain injury in mice lacking Sarm1
Henninger N, Bouley J, Sikoglu EM, An J, Moore CM, King JA, Bowser R, Freeman MR and Brown RH Jr
Brain 2016 Apr;139(Pt 4):1094-1105
PMID:26912636

2015

Letting go of JuNK by disassembly of adhesive complexes
Farely JE and Freeman MR
Neuron 2015 Dec 2;88(5):848-850
PMID:26637791

Age-dependent TRDP-43-medicated motor neuron degeneration requires GSK3, hat-trick, and xmas-2
Sreedharan J, Neukomm LJ, Brown RH Jr and Freeman MR
Curr Biol. 2015 Aug 17;25(16):2130-2136
PMID:26234214

Drosphila central nervous system glia
Freeman MR
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2015 Feb 26;7(11). pii: a020552
PMID:25722465

2014

PI3K signaling and Stat92E converge to modulate glial responsiveness to axonal injury
Doherty J, Sheehan AE, Bradshaw R, Fox AN, Lu TY and Freeman MR
PLoS Biol. 2014 Nov 4;12(11):e1001985
PMID:25369313

Activity-dependent regulation of astrocyte GAT levels during synaptogenesis
Muthukumar AK, Stork T and Freeman MR
Nat Neurosci. 2014 Oct;17(10):1340-1350
PMID:25151265

DRK/DOS/SOS converge with Crk/Mbc/dCed-12 to activate Rac1 during glial engulfment of axonal debris
Lu TY, Doherty J and Freeman MR
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2014 Aug 26;111(34):12544-12549
PMID:25099352

Astrocytes eyeball axonal mitochondria
Burdett TC and Freeman MR
Science 2014 Jul 25;345(6195):385-386
PMID:25061193

Neuron-glia interactions through the Heartless FGF receptor signaling pathway mediate morphogenesis of Drosophila astrocytes
Stork T, Sheehan A, Tasdemir-Yilmaz OE and Freeman MR
Neuron 2014 Jul 16;83(2):388-403
PMID:25033182

Rapid in vivo forward genetic approach for identifying axon death genes in Drosophila
Neukomm LJ, Burdett TC, Gonzalez MA, Züchner S and Freeman MR
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2014 Jul 8;111(27):9965-9970
PMID:24958874

Signaling mechanisms regulating Wallerian degeneration
Freeman MR
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2014 Aug;27:224-231
PMID:24907513

Diverse cellular and molecular modes of axon degeneration
Neukomm LJ and Freeman MR
Trends Cell Biol. 2014 Sep;24(9):515-523
PMID:24780172

Drosophila models of neuronal injury
Rooney TM and Freeman MR
ILAR J. 2014;54(3):291-295
PMID:24615442

Glial wingless/Wnt regulates glutamate receptor clustering and synaptic physiology at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction
Kerr KS, Fuentes-Medel Y, Brewer C, Barria R, Ashley J, Abruzzi KC, Sheehan A, Tasdemir-Yilmaz OE, Freeman MR* and Budnik V* (*corresponding/senior authors)
J Neurosci. 2014 Feb 19;34(8):2910-2920
PMID:24553932

Astrocytes engage unique molecular programs to engulf pruned neuronal debris from distinct subsets of neurons
Tasdemir-Yilmaz OE and Freeman MR
Genes Dev. 2014 Jan 1;28(1):20-33
PMID:24361692

2013

Architects in neural circuit design: Glia control neuron numbers and connectivity
Corty MM and Freeman MR
J Cell Biol. 2013 Nov 11;203(3):395-405
PMID:24217617

Evolving concepts in gliogenesis: A look way back and ahead to the next 25 years
Freeman MR and Rowitch DH
Neuron 2013 Oct 30;80(3):613-623
PMID:24183014

Deletions within its subcellular targeting domain enhance the axon protective capacity of Nmnat2 in vivo
Milde S, Fox AN, Freeman MR and Coleman MP
Sci Rep. 2013;3:2567
PMID:23995269

Probing the enigma: Unraveling glial cell biology in invertebrates
Coutinho-Budd J and Freeman MR
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2013 Dec;23(6):1073-1079
PMID:23896311

The c-Jun kinase signaling cascade promotes glial engulfment activity through activation of draper and phagocytic function
MacDonald JM, Doherty J, Hackett R and Freeman MR
Cell Death Differ. 2013 Sep;20(9):1140-1148
PMID:23618811

2012

Whole genome sequencing and a new bioinformatics platform allow for rapid gene identification in D. melanogaster EMS screens 
Gonzalez MA, Van Booven D, Hulme W, Ulloa RH, Lebrigio RFA, Osterloh J, Logan M, Freeman M and Züchner S
Biology (Basel) 2012 Dec 5;1(3):766-777
PMID:24832518

Integration of a retrograde signal during synapse formation by glia-secreted TGF-ß ligand
Fuentes-Medel Y, Ashley J, Barria R, Maloney R, Freeman MR* and Budnik V* (*corresponding/senior authors)
Curr Biol. 2012 Oct 9;22(19):1831-1838
PMID:22959350

Combining comparative proteomics and molecular genetics uncovers regulators of synaptic and axonal stability and degeneration in vivo
Wishart TM, Rooney TM, Lamont DJ, Wright AK, Morton AJ, Jackson M, Freeman MR and Gillingwater TH
PLoS Genet. 2012;8(8):e1002936
PMID:22952455

Distinct molecular pathways mediate glial activation and engulfment of axonal debris after axotomy
Ziegenfuss JS, Doherty J and Freeman MR
Nat Neurosci. 2012 Jun 17;15(7):979-987
PMID:22706267

dSarm/Sarm1 is required for activation of an injury-induced axon death pathway
Osterloh JM, Yang J, Rooney TM, Fox AN, Adalbert R, Powell EH, Sheehan AE, Avery MA, Hackett R, Logan MA, MacDonald JM, Ziegenfuss JS, Milde S, Hou YJ, Nathan C, Ding A, Brown RH, Conforti L, Coleman M, Tessier-Lavigne M, Züchner S and Freeman MR
Science 2012 Jul 27;337(6093):481-484
PMID:22678360

Negative regulation of glial engulfment activity by Draper terminates glial responses to axon injury
Logan, MA, Hackett R, Doherty J, Sheehan A, Speese SD and Freeman MR
Nat Neurosci. 2012 Mar 18;15(5):722-730
PMID:22426252

WldS protects axons through increased mitochondrial flux and enhanced mitochondrial Ca2+ buffering
Avery MA, Rooney TM, Pandya JD, Wishart TM, Gillingwater TH, Geddes JW, Sullivan PG and Freeman MR
Curr Biol. 2012 Apr 10;22(7):596-600
PMID:22425157

Analysis of glial cell development and function in Drosophila
Stork T, Bernardos R and Freeman MR
Cold Spring Harb Protoc. 2012 Jan 1;2012(1):1-17
PMID:22194269

2010

Specification and morphogenesis of astrocytes
Freeman MR
Science 2010 Nov 5;330(6005):774-778
PMID:21051628

Activation of autophagy during cell death requires the engulfment receptor Draper
McPhee CK, Logan MA, Freeman MR and Baehrecke EH
Nature 2010 Jun 24;465(7301):1093-1096
PMID:20577216

Wallerian degeneration, Wlds, and Nmnat
Coleman MP and Freeman MR
Annu Rev Neurosci. 2010;33:245-267
PMID:20345246

2009

Neuronal death and dismemberment mediated by Sox14
Osterloh JM and Freeman MR
Nat Neurosci. 2009 Dec;12(12):1479-1480
PMID:19935724

Glia and muscle sculpt neuromuscular arbors by engulfing destablilized synaptic boutons and shed presynaptic debris
Fuentes-Medel Y, Logan MA, Ashley J, Ataman B, Budnik V* and Freeman MR* (*corresponding/senior authors)
PLoS Biol. 2009 Aug;7(8):e1000184
PMID:19707574

Ensheathing glia function as phagocytes in the adult Drosophila brain
Doherty J, Logan MA, Tasdemir O and Freeman MR
J Neurosci. 2009 Apr 15;29(15):4768-4781
PMID:19369546

Wlds requires Nmnat1 enzymatic activity and N16-VCP interactions to suppress Wallerian degeneration
Avery MA, Tasdemir O, Sheehan A, Wang J and Freeman MR
J Cell Biol. 2009 Feb 23;184(4):501-513
PMID:19237597

2008

Draper-dependent glial phagocytic activity is mediated by Src and Syk family kinase signalling
Ziegenfuss JS, Biswas R, Avery MA, Hong K, Sheehan AE, Yeung YG, Stanley ER and Freeman MR
Nature 2008 Jun 12;453(7197):935-939
PMID:18432193

2007

A look inside
Freeman MR
Neuron Glia Biol. 2007 Feb;3(1):1-3
PMID:18634573

The scoop on the fly brain: Glial engulfment functions in Drosophila
Logan MA and Freeman MR
Neuron Glia Biol. 2007 Feb;3(1):63-74
PMID:18172512

Glia got rhythm
Emery P and Freeman MR
Neuron 2007 Aug 2;55(3):337-339
PMID:17678846

2006

The Drosophila cell corpse engulfment receptor Draper mediates glial clearance of severed axons
MacDonald JM, Beach MG, Popiglia E, Sheehan, AE, Watts RJ and Freeman MR
Neuron 2006 Jun 15;50(6):869-881
PMID:16772169

Glial cell biology in Drosophila and mammals
Freeman MR and Doherty J
Trends Neurosci. 2006 Feb;29(2):82-90
PMID:16377000

Sculpting the nervous system: Glial control of neuronal development
Freeman MR
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2006 Feb;16(1):119-125
PMID:16387489

2005

Glial (and neuronal) cells missing
Freeman MR
Neuron 2005 Oct 20;48(2):163-165
PMID:16242394

Glial control of synaptogenesis
Freeman MR
Cell 2005 Feb 11;120(3):292-293
PMID:15707887

2003

Unwrapping glial biology: Gcm target genes regulating glial development, diversification, and function
Freeman MR, Delrow J, Kim J, Johnson E and Doe CQ
Neuron 2003 May 22;38(4):567-580
PMID:12765609

2001

Moving muscle: Jeb signaling in Drosophila
Freeman MR and Doe CQ
Dev Cell. 2001 Nov;1(5):587-588
PMID:11709176

Asymmetric Prospero localization is required to generate mixed neuronal/glial lineages in the Drosophila CNS
Freeman MR and Doe CQ
Development 2001 Oct;128(20):4103-4112
PMID:11641232

1999

The dare gene: Steroid hormone production, olfactory behavior, and neural degeneration in Drosophila
Freeman MR, Dobritsa A, Gaines P, Segraves WA and Carlson JR
Development 1999 Oct;126(20):4591-4602
PMID:10498693

Ecdysone response genes govern egg chamber development during mid-oogenesis in Drosophila
Buszczak M, Freeman MR, Carlson JR, Bender M, Cooley L and Segraves WA
Development 1999 Oct;126(20):4581-4589
PMID:10498692

A novel family of divergent seven-transmembrane proteins: Candidate odorant receptors in Drosophila
Clyne PJ, Warr CG, Freeman MR, Lessing D, Kim J and Carlson JR
Neuron 1999 Feb;22(2):327-338
PMID:10069338