The applicant is interested in discovering ways to encourage the regeneration of axons in neurons damaged by spinal cord injury. To do this, she plans to focus on both the extrinsic factors (such as extracellular matrix molecules and neurotrophins) and intrinsic characteristics of neurons that support their sprouting and regeneration. Her preliminary work has involved the re-expression of growth-associated proteins in mature neurons after spinal cord lesions followed by fetal spinal cord tissue transplantation and neurotrophin treatment. The research will involve surgery, computer-assisted image analysis to quantify results, and cell and molecular biology techniques.
