Anumantha Kanthasamy
Director of the Isakson Center for Neurological Disease Research
Research Focus
- Novel apoptotic and compensatory signaling activated during neurotoxic insult in the dopaminergic neurodegenerative process
- Protein misfolding and neuroinflammatory mechanisms in neurotoxicity
- Epigenetic reprogramming in neurotoxic stress
- Translational biomarker and drug discovery in neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration
Arthi Kanthasamy
Johnny Isakson Distinguished Professor
Research Focus
- Novel apoptotic and compensatory signaling activated during neurotoxic insult in the dopaminergic neurodegenerative process
- Protein misfolding and neuroinflammatory mechanisms in neurotoxicity
- Epigenetic reprogramming in neurotoxic stress
- Translational biomarker and drug discovery in neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration
Shaolin Liu
Associate Professor
Research Focus
- Elucidating how olfactory and limbic systems are effected in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and brain injuries due to trauma or neurotoxicity
- Using optogenetics, chemogenetics, in vivo and in vitro electro-physiology, behavioral approaches, and neuroanatomy with advanced cellular imaging to bridge the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical applications
Gregory Phillips
Professor
I am a proud graduate of UGA (Ph.D. Genetics). After spending over 20 years on the faculty at Iowa State University, have welcomed the chance to return to UGA as a Professor in ICNDR and Department of Infectious Diseases.
Research Focus
- Our lab engineers life biotherapeutic products in the form of beneficial microorganisms as novel treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
- We also investigate the role of the gut microbiome in host health and disease processes.
Publications
- A single rare σ70 variant establishes a unique gene expression pattern in the E. coli pathobiont LF82
- Resources to Facilitate Use of the Altered Schaedler Flora (ASF) Mouse Model to Study Microbiome Function
- Changing colors and understanding: the use of mutant chromogenic protein and informational suppressor strains of Escherichia coli to explore the central dogma of molecular biology
Jason Richardson
Dianne Isakson Distinguished Professor
Research conducted by Dr. Richardson focuses on the role of environmental exposures and their interactions with genetic susceptibility as contributors to neurological disease using translational approaches. He has recruited and led multidisciplinary teams of researchers to explore gene-environment interactions relevant to Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD. Through the conduct of basic and epidemiological studies, he has contributed several significant findings that have broad implications for human health, individual susceptibility, and risk assessment as it relates to neurodegenerative disease and neurodevelopmental disorders. These efforts have been continuously funded by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) through multiple R01 grants.
Research Focus
- Microglial Hv1 Proton Channel as a Mediator of Environmentally-Induced Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration
- This is a dual PI grant with Dr. Long Jun Wu at the Mayo Clinic. The overall objective of this proposal is to define the role of the microglial Hv1 proton channel as a contributor to paraquat-induced neuroinflammation and dopaminergic neurodegeneration.
- Exploring the role of paraquat exposure, the NLRP3 inflammasome and tau pathology
- Developmental Basis of Cognitive Dysfunction and Prodromal AD: Role of the Exposome
- Environmental Exposome as a Driver of Alzheimer’s DiseaseThis is a multi-PI grant with Dr. Dean Jones at Emory and Dr. Dwight German at UTSW to explore the relationship of environmental exposures with cognitive function and AD biomarkers in the Health & Aging Brain Study-Health Disparities (HABS-HD).
- Environmental Exposome as a Driver of Alzheimer’s Disease
- This is a multi-PI grant with Dr. Honglei Chen at Michigan State and Brenda Plassman at Duke to explore the relationships between pesticide exposure in the Agricultural Health Study and Markers of ADRD neurodegeneration.
Hui (Iris) Zhang
Associate Professor
Research Focus
- Understanding how dopamine (DA) neurons die in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and why substantia nigra compacta dopamine neurons are specifically susceptible in hope of developing new therapeutic targets
