1.
Speaker: Prof. Bonnie Firestein(Rutgers University, NJ, USA)
2. Topic: Approaches for the Treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury
3. Date/time: 2023 Jul-28 / 0800-0930 (KST)
4. Place: Online (※ A Zoom address will be sent to your email and mobile
number before the lecture begins.)
5. Abstract
Our research focuses on the
role of guanine metabolism in recovery after central nervous system injury. Specifically,
my laboratory studies the role of cypin, the major guanine deaminase in the
brain, in the promotion of recovery after traumatic brain injury. We identified
19 activators and 7 inhibitors of cypin in a small molecule screen. We found
that cypin activation promotes neuroprotection in vitro and neurocognitive recovery in vivo in models of both mild and moderate traumatic brain injury.
In contrast, activators of cypin have no effect of spinal cord neurons when
injured, but instead, cypin inhibitors decrease spinal cord injury-promoted
neuropathic pain in vivo. Our ongoing
work aims to identify the mechanisms by which modulation of cypin activity is a
therapeutic strategy for patients who have suffered central nervous system
injuries, and by extension, the potential for cypin as a target for Alzheimer’s
Disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.
