Cell Signaling

Below are UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences researchers working on projects related to cell signaling:

Colin K. Combs, Ph.D., Professor (Ph.D., University of Rochester), Associate Dean of Research/Chair of Biomedical Sciences: Mechanisms by which inflammatory activation of brain glial cells contributes to neurodegeneration. The process by which a specific type of glia, microglia, contribute to the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease.

Mikhail Golovko, Ph.D., Assistant Professor (Ph.D., Tver State University): Examining the lipid signaling pathway and inflammation response using steady-state kinetic modeling in vivo and mass spectrometric techniques.

Bryon Grove, Ph.D., Professor (Ph.D., Clemson University, 1985): Role of proteins that anchor or target protein kinases and other intracellular proteins to specific cellular compartments, AKAPs (A-kinase anchoring proteins) in particular.

Saobo Lei, Ph.D., Associate Professor (Ph.D., University of Alberta): Neural network activities in the brain; Roles and mechanisms of neuropeptides and neuromodulators in learning and memory and neurological diseases including anxiety, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and schizophrenia, etc.

Eric J. Murphy, Ph.D., Associate Professor (Ph.D., The Ohio State University): How the brain maintain the unique lipid environment that is essential for normal brain function. The mechanisms underlying fatty acid uptake into the brain. N-3 Fatty acids in the human diet.

Kumi Nagamoto-Combs, Ph.D., Assistant Professor (Ph.D., University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 1996): Investigation of molecular, cellular and epigenetic events associated with peripheral inflammation-induced behavioral abnormality.

Thad Rosenberger, Ph.D., Associate Professor (Ph.D., Ohio State University): Identification of lipid-mediated signaling pathways that contribute to the progression of inflammatory events in the central nervous system. Identifying the specific roles phospholipases A2 and C play in the progression of disease. Distinguishing the role that ether phospholipid metabolism has in normal and injured brain.

John A. Watt, Ph.D., Associate Professor (Ph.D., Montana State University, 1993): Neuron/glial response(s) to brain injury, particularly in regards to the mechanisms of cellular communication involved in regenerative events.