Feldheim, David - University of California, Santa Cruz - Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology Faculty

个人简介

B. S., University of California, San Diego Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley Postdoctorate, Harvard Medical School

研究领域

Mammalian Brain Development How does the brain develop in such a stereotypical and precise manner? This is an important question because the formation of precise neuronal connections is strictly required for productive communication between neurons, and understanding the basic processes that specify proper connectivity in the visual system is directly relevant to treating neurological disorders involving aberrant neuronal connections and processing, such as generalized seizures, sleep disorders, and mental retardation. In addition, it is likely that the same mechanisms used to make neuronal connections during development can be manipulated in order to rewire the brain after damage due to injury or disease. Most people believe that brain development uses a combination of inborn genetic cues (nature) and experience (nurture). Our work over the last few years has focused on this problem. To do this we have created neural systems that lack ephrins, patterned retinal activity, and both ephrins and activity and characterized the visual projections of these systems using a combination of anatomical tracing and recording techniques. We have found that visual systems require both of the mechanisms to develop. We are also interested in generating visual neurons in a dish using human embryonic stem cells in order to cure visual disease.

近期论文

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The Mouse Superior Colliculus: An Emerging Model for Studying Circuit Formation and Function. Ito S, Feldheim DA. Front Neural Circuits. 2018 Feb 13;12:10. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2018.00010. eCollection 2018. Review. Segregation of Visual Response Properties in the Mouse Superior Colliculus and Their Modulation during Locomotion. Ito S, Feldheim DA, Litke AM. J Neurosci. 2017 Aug 30;37(35):8428-8443. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3689-16.2017. Epub 2017 Jul 31. Expression of transcription factors divides retinal ganglion cells into distinct classes. Sweeney NT, James KN, Nistorica A, Lorig-Roach RM, Feldheim DA. J Comp Neurol. 2019 Jan 1;527(1):225-235. doi: 10.1002/cne.24172. Epub 2017 Mar 10. Corticothalamic Axons Are Essential for Retinal Ganglion Cell Axon Targeting to the Mouse Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus. Shanks JA, Ito S, Schaevitz L, Yamada J, Chen B, Litke A, Feldheim DA. J Neurosci. 2016 May 11;36(19):5252-63. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4599-15.2016. Stochastic Interaction between Neural Activity and Molecular Cues in the Formation of Topographic Maps. Owens MT, Feldheim DA, Stryker MP, Triplett JW. Neuron. 2015 Sep 23;87(6):1261-1273. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.08.030. Ephrin-As are required for the topographic mapping but not laminar choice of physiologically distinct RGC types. Sweeney NT, James KN, Sales EC, Feldheim DA. Dev Neurobiol. 2015 Jun;75(6):584-93. doi: 10.1002/dneu.22265. Epub 2015 Feb 18. Tbr2 is required to generate a neural circuit mediating the pupillary light reflex. Sweeney NT, Tierney H, Feldheim DA. J Neurosci. 2014 Apr 16;34(16):5447-53. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0035-14.2014. Dendritic and axonal targeting patterns of a genetically-specified class of retinal ganglion cells that participate in image-forming circuits. Triplett JW, Wei W, Gonzalez C, Sweeney NT, Huberman AD, Feller MB, Feldheim DA. Neural Dev. 2014 Feb 5;9:2. doi: 10.1186/1749-8104-9-2.