John D. Wiley Seminar Series

Seminar – Fraser Sim, PhD – “Overcoming Obstacles Limiting Human Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Recruitment and Differentiation in the Demyelinated Brain”

About the Speaker: My lab investigates the molecular control of cell fate and homeostasis of resident stem and progenitor cells in the human brain. Using a combination of multicolor cell sorting techniques and whole genome analysis, we are characterizing the signaling pathways which regulate the formation and fate of human oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. We are testing the functional significance of these pathways using both pharmacological and viral methods in culture and animal-based models of myelination and demyelination.

Dolan Lecture – Laura Ranum, PhD – “RAN Translation in Neurologic Disease”

Dr. Ranum began her research career in human molecular genetics in 1989 at the University of Minnesota and is currently the Founding Director of the Center for NeuroGenetics and Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Florida. Over the past 25 years her laboratory has identified the mutations for a number of neurological disorders including spinocerebellar ataxia types 5 and 8 (SCA5, SCA8), and myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2). Her laboratory has developed and uses mouse models to understand how these and other mutations cause disease. Most recently, the Ranum lab created a mouse model of the C9orf72 ALS/dementia mutation that has generated wide interest in the scientific community studying ALS.