Gabriel Corfas, PhD
University of Michigan
Profile
About the Speaker: Dr. Gabriel Corfas received an MSc in biological sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a PhD in neurobiology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He did postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Gerald Fischbach, first at Washington University and then at Harvard Medical School (HMS). He then joined the HMS faculty and established his independent laboratory at Boston Children’s Hospital. Before joining the faculty of the University of Michigan and becoming the director of the Kresge Hearing Research Institute, he was a professor in the departments of neurology and otology & laryngology at HMS and director of basic research in otolaryngology at Boston Children’s Hospital.
The Corfas Laboratory is interested in understanding the roles that interactions between neurons and glia – the two fundamental cell types of the nervous system-play in nervous system development, function and maintenance and in defining the molecular signals that orchestrate these interactions. To this end, the lab employs molecular and cellular biological techniques as well as uses genetically modified mice.
Using these tools and approaches, the Corfas Laboratory has contributed to the understanding of the function of several types of glia, including oligodendrocytes, Schwann cells, astrocytes, Bergmann glia and supporting cells of the inner ear, as well as the identification of key signaling pathways that mediate the interactions between these glia and their associated neurons. The lab has also found how dysfunction of neuron-glia communication contributes to disorders of the nervous system.
For Further Information, Contact: Clark Kellogg at kellogg@waisman.wisc.edu
The seminar series is funded by the John D. Wiley Conference Center Fund, the Friends of the Waisman Center and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) grant P50HD105353.
