Roger Simon
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Courtesy Faculty, Robert S. Dow Neurobiology Labs |
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Education
M.D. 1971, Cornell UniversityResearch
Our studies at the Robert S. Dow Neurobiology Labs focus on the anatomic, physiologic and neuropathologic aspects of brain and nervous system function, with a special emphasis on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neuronal injury and repair that are manifest in stroke and epilepsy. The cellular, membrane and genomic responses to ischemia, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of ischemic tolerance and its neuroprotective mechanisms in the brain, are areas of concentrated interest.A significant theme of our research is that potent endogenous mechanisms of neuroprotection are encoded in the human genome, and that a subset of genes expressed during cerebral ischemia determines whether or not cells survive. Our goal is to identify these genes and gene products and by modifying their expression, modify the outcome of the stroke. Parallel studies in human and rodent brain focus on the role that genes play in controlling the extent of brain cell death during epileptic seizures. These approaches could have a major significance in advancing our understanding of the pathophysiology of ischemic neuronal injury and providing data that will lead to new therapeutic approaches to stroke, epilepsy, and related disorders such as traumatic brain injury.
Membrane sodium, calcium and acid-sensitive channel function in ischemia and epilepsy, and apoptotic gene responses in multiple sclerosis are other areas of ongoing investigation. Laser capture and gene chip microarrays are being developed for application in these studies.