# positions[].organizations[].parent[].label
Texas A&M University Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine

# overview
Research in  our lab centers on the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the formation, maintenance and pathology of synapses, the connections between nerve cells and their targets.  Because of its simplicity and experimental accessibility we have used the vertebrate neuromuscular junction (NMJ) as our model system. The NMJ is the synapse between a motor neuron and a skeletal muscle fiber. We address these problems using state-of-the-art mouse molecular genetic techniques in combination with standard molecular, cellular, and immunological approaches.

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# keywords[]
S100 Calcium Binding Protein Beta Subunit

# keywords[]
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
University of Maryland, Baltimore - (Baltimore, Maryland, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Stanford University - (Stanford, California, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
New Mexico State University - (Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
New York University - (New York, New York, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
University of the Andes - (Mérida, Venezuela)

# publications[].label
Cloning and analysis of chicken acetylcholinesterase transcripts from muscle and brain.

# publications[].label
Corrigendum: Defective Acetylcholine Receptor Subunit Switch Precedes Atrophy of Slow-Twitch Skeletal Muscle Fibers Lacking ERK1/2 Kinases in Soleus Muscle.

# publications[].label
Heterogeneous brain region-specific responses to astrocytic mitochondrial DNA damage in mice.

# publications[].label
Lymphatic dysfunction correlates with inflammation in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

# publications[].label
Heterogeneous brain region-specific responses to astrocytic mitochondrial DNA damage in mice.

# publications[].label
Validation of terminal Schwann cell gene marker expression by fluorescent in situ hybridization using RNAscope.

# publications[].label
Improvement of neuromuscular synaptic phenotypes without enhanced survival and motor function in severe spinal muscular atrophy mice selectively rescued in motor neurons.

# publications[].label
Schwann cell-derived neuregulin-2alpha can function as a cell-attached activator of muscle acetylcholine receptor expression.

# publications[].label
Regulation of the intermediate filament protein nestin at rodent neuromuscular junctions by innervation and activity.

# publications[].label
Stimulation of acetylcholine receptor transcription by neuregulin-2 requires an N-box response element and is regulated by alternative splicing.

# publications[].label
Nerve sprouting capacity in a pharmacologically induced mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy.

# publications[].label
Neuregulin-2 is synthesized by motor neurons and terminal Schwann cells and activates acetylcholine receptor transcription in muscle cells expressing ErbB4.

# publications[].label
Defective neuromuscular synaptogenesis in mice expressing constitutively active ErbB2 in skeletal muscle fibers.

# publications[].label
Agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in skeletal muscle fibers in vivo.

# publications[].label
Agrin-induced aggregation of acetylcholine receptors in muscles of rats with experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis.

# publications[].label
Neuregulins at the neuromuscular synapse: past, present, and future.

# publications[].label
Neuregulins: primary or secondary signals for the control of synapse-specific gene expression.

# publications[].label
Lymphatic dysfunction is linked to disease pathogenesis in Duchenne muscular dystrophy animal models.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
Defective Acetylcholine Receptor Subunit Switch Precedes Atrophy of Slow-Twitch Skeletal Muscle Fibers Lacking ERK1/2 Kinases in Soleus Muscle.

# publications[].label
Regulation of the size and distribution of agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in adult skeletal muscle by electrical muscle activity.

# publications[].label
Extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 regulate neuromuscular junction and myofiber phenotypes in mammalian skeletal muscle.

# publications[].label
Erratum Volume9, Number 4 (1997), in Article No. CN970623: Ilana Cohen, Mendell Rimer, Terjo Lmo, and U. J. McMahan, Agrin-Induced Postsynaptic-like Apparatus in Skeletal Muscle Fibersin Vivo, pp. 237253

# publications[].label
Denervation of chicken skeletal muscle causes an increase in acetylcholinesterase mRNA synthesis.

# publications[].label
Modulation of agrin-induced acetylcholine receptor clustering by extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 in cultured myotubes.

# publications[].label
gamma-AChR/epsilon-AChR switch at agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in skeletal muscle.

# publications[].label
Evidence for muscle-dependent neuromuscular synaptic site determination in mammals.

# publications[].label
BioABACUS: a database of abbreviations and acronyms in biotechnology and computer science.

# publications[].label
Neuregulin-1 immunoglobulin-like domain mutant mice: clozapine sensitivity and impaired latent inhibition.

# publications[].label
Emerging roles for MAP kinases in agrin signaling.

# publications[].label
Muscles in a mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy show profound defects in neuromuscular development even in the absence of failure in neuromuscular transmission or loss of motor neurons.

# publications[].label
Transcripts for the acetylcholine receptor and acetylcholine esterase show distribution differences in cultured chick muscle cells.

# publications[].label
CUGBP1 overexpression in mouse skeletal muscle reproduces features of myotonic dystrophy type 1.

# publications[].label
Neuregulins and erbB receptors at neuromuscular junctions and at agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in skeletal muscle.

# publications[].label
Induction of zinc-finger proliferation 1 expression in non-myelinating Schwann cells after denervation.

# publications[].label
Muscle-derived extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 are required for the maintenance of adult myofibers and their neuromuscular junctions.

# publications[].label
Mitochondrial DNA damage in substantia nigra pars compacta astrocytes exacerbates dopaminergic neuron loss in a 6-hydroxydopamine mouse model of parkinsonism.

# publications[].label
Lymphatic Structure and Function Are Associated with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Pathogenesis

# publications[].label
Induction of neuregulin signaling in mouse schwann cells in vivo mimics responses to denervation.

# researcherOn[].label
Role of Erk1/2 In Neuromuscular Synapses and Myofiber Development In Vivo

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Institutes of Health - (Bethesda, Maryland, United States)

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.preferredLabel
DHHS-NIH-National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

# researcherOn[].label
Isolation of Terminal Schwann Cells by Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Institutes of Health - (Bethesda, Maryland, United States)

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.preferredLabel
DHHS-NIH-National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

# streetAddress
Texas A&M Health Science Center; Neuroscience & Experimental Therapeutics; 1359 TAMUS

# organizations[]
Texas A&M University Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine

# schools[]
Texas A&M University Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine

# etdChairOf[].label
Wang, Shuo (2018-05). The Potential Role of Erk1/2 Map Kinases in the Regulation of Neuromuscular Junction Integrity and Bone Morphogenetic Protein Signaling. Doctoral Dissertation.

# etdChairOf[].label
Paez, Ximena (2014-08). Motor Neuron-Specific Restoration of SMN in Two SMA Mouse Models: Insights into the Role of Motor Neurons in Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Doctoral Dissertation.