My laboratory has been focusing on the role of the nerve growth factor (NGF) family of neurotrophins in the early stages of neuronal development. In addition to NGF, this family includes brain-derived neurotrophic factor, neurotrophin-3 and neurotrophin-4/5. We have determined that receptors for these neurotrophins appear during the initial formation of the nervous system, and we have been examining the role of neurotrophins in the neural plate, neural crest and several peripheral ganglia (dorsal root ganglia, sympathetic ganglia, cochlear and vestibular ganglia). We are using both in vitro and in vivo
techniques to determine whether neurotrophins elicit effects on such parameters
as survival, neurite outgrowth, speed of migration, and neurotransmitter levels. I am currently receiving funding from the American Heart Association and the Rosenfeld Heart Foundation.
My medical school teaching duties are as follows: I am the block director for the Musculoskeletal block, the co-director for the Blood/Head and Neck block and discipline director for Gross Anatomy. I also teach in the graduate Molecular and Cell Biology course.
RECENT REFERENCES
Qiu, L., Towle, M. F., Bernd, P., and Fukada, K. (1997). Distribution of cholinergic neuronal differentiation factor/leukemia inhibitory factor binding sites in the developing and adult rat nervous system in vivo. J. Neurobiol. 32:163-192.
Yao, L., Zhang, D., and Bernd, P. (1997). Differential regulation of substance P by all members of the NGF family of neurotrophins in avian dorsal root ganglia throughout development. Neurosci. 79:1197-1206.
Bernd, P., Rozenberg, I., Speight, J., Yao, L., and Zhang, D. (1998). The role of nerve growth factor and other neurotrophins in the formation and early development of avian sensory dorsal root ganglia. In Neurotrophins and the Neural Crest (M. Sieber-Blum, ed.), CRC Press, pp. 95-115.
Li, R. and Bernd, P. (1999). Neurotrophin-3 increases neurite outgrowth and apoptosis in explants of the chicken neural plate. Dev. Neurosci. 21:12-21.
Bernd, P. and Li, R. (in press). Differential expression of trkC mRNA in the chicken embryo from gastrulation to development of secondary brain vesicles.
PAULETTE BERND, MD
Associate Professor
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Box 5
Phone: 270-????, Fax: 270-????
E-mail: pbernd@downstate.edu
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