Research topic: Cell based platforms for study, diagnosis, drug screening and therapy of neurodegenerative diseases.

Research methods: Isolation and culture of human embryonic/adult stem cells models of diseases; Cell based-assays for High content analysis (HCA) screening of stem cells with and without disease; High throughput screening (HTS) of drugs using liquid handling robot, Drug development applications, Transcriptome and Systems biology analysis for identification of pathways of disease. Chick embryo as model for neural development studies. Differentiation protocols of human neurons derived from embryonic stem cells. Cell live imaging, FRAP and confocal microscopy, Q-RTPCR.

Projects in the lab include:

1. Familial Dysautonomia (FD): The role of IKAP in human PNS neurons/ Elucidation of the FD Phenotype in vivo and in vitro
2. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS): Elucidation of disease pathways based on ALS biomarkers
3. Cell based HCA assay development for HTS for ALS and FD, HTS of drugs, drug pathway validation, mechanism of disease in cells from patients