Timothy M. Gomez, PhD

PhD, University of Minnesota

Contact Information

257 Bardeen Labs
470 N. Charter St.
Madison, WI 53706
608.263.4554
tmgomez@wisc.edu

Research Statement

Work in my laboratory focuses on the intracellular mechanisms that regulate growth cone motility and behavior. Growth cones are sensory-motor specializations at the tips of all growing axons and dendrites that detect and transduce extracellular cues into guided outgrowth. Great advances have been made in recent years in our understanding of the factors that contribute to guided axon extension. Many new classes of ligands and their receptors have been discovered and we are beginning to appreciate how growth cones integrate multiple extracellular stimuli and convert those signals into stereotyped behaviors.

Research in my laboratory combines a variety of fluorescent probe technologies with confocal and total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy to visualize the dynamic behavior of growth cones and assess their physiological responses during axon extension in vitro and guided outgrowth in the intact spinal cord. We use two model systems for our studies. First, we study spinal cord and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) neuron development using the African Clawed frog Xenopus Laevis due to the large size, rapid development, and ease of molecular and surgical manipulation of its embryos. Second, we are studying the development of human forebrain, motoneuron and RGCs using neurons derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Various gain and loss of function techniques are used to alter the physiology of growth cones both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, we are using iPSCs derived from human patients with various autism spectrum disorders.

Selected Publications