海角社区

Dr. Jerold Chun is professor and senior vice president of Neuroscience Drug Discovery at SBP. He completed his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Stanford University. He studies development and diseases of the brain.

The lab of Evan Snyder, M.D. Ph.D. at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, is at the forefront of stem cell research,  investigating how neural stem cells can be used to treat diseases like Parkinson鈥檚 disease & Bipolar disorder.

Dr. Daadi is an expert in regulated translational research and has developed therapeutic neural stem cell lines (NSC) for clinical use in Parkinson’s disease, stroke, and to target brain tumors in both industrial and academic settings. He discovered a novel technique of engineering these stem cell lines from pluripotent human embryonic stem cells and continues to develop this therapeutic cell line for clinical use. Dr. Daadi came to Texas Biomed in 2014 and is the team leader for the SNPRC Regenerative Medicine and Aging research unit. Results from his studies are the foundation of translational research and help to repair diseased or injured brain through transplantation of highly purified NSCs and stimulation of internal repair mechanisms.

Dr. Rita Cowell is Fellow and Chair of the Neuroscience Department within the Drug Discovery Division. In this role, she maintains an independently-funded research program, while overseeing the Neuroscience Department with the mission of discovering novel, mechanism-based approaches to treat individuals with neurodegenerative disorders. The research in the Cowell Lab aims to determine how intrinsic transcriptional programs underlying neuronal heterogeneity give rise to selective vulnerability in neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson鈥檚 Disease, Huntington Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease. Her research group is comprised of postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate trainees who are affiliated with Southern Research鈥檚 partner institution, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The lab is currently supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson鈥檚 Research.

Cowell received her undergraduate degree in biology in 1997 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2002 from the University of Michigan, where she also completed her postdoctoral work. She began her independent research laboratory as an assistant professor at UAB in 2006, rising through the ranks to associate professor. She also served as co-director of the Neuroscience Graduate Theme for the Program in Biomedical Sciences at UAB and associate director for Communications and Outreach for the Civitan International Research Center before joining Southern Research in 2017.  

Using a think tank-like model, she now directs the Neuroscience Department, utilizing its collective expertise in mechanisms of cell death/dysfunction and animal models of disease to identify and prioritize novel targets for small molecule identification using the unique high throughput capabilities of the Drug Discovery Division. Beyond these efforts to the institution, she actively facilitates interactions with local, national, and international groups interested in drug discovery and development in the neurosciences by serving as a liaison and consultant for extramural collaborations. Ongoing collaborations exist with scientists from UAB, HudsonAlpha in Huntsville, Alabama, and numerous other institutions, universities, and companies across the world. Cumulatively, her goal is to lead transformation of drug discovery in the field of neurodegeneration and to improve the lives of those suffering from these diseases.

Dr. Alain Dagher is a neurologist specializing in movement disorders and functional brain imaging. His research aims at understanding the function of the basal ganglia, with a particular emphasis on appetitive behaviours. This involves studying how we learn about rewards and punishments, and become motivated to engage in reward-seeking behaviour. The two main techniques used are positron emission tomography (PET) targeting the dopamine system, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The research focusses on Parkinson's Disease, stress, drug addiction (notably cigarette smoking), pathological gambling, and obesity. Dr. Dagher is funded by CIHR, FRSQ, NIDA, the Parkinson Society of Canada, the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders, and Unilever PLC.

Dr. Youngil Lee, associate professor, teaches exercise physiology, sports nutrition and applied physiology in muscular development.

Lee鈥檚 research focuses on exercise-induced cardiac and neuroprotection using various advanced molecular and cellular research tools to elucidate novel protective mechanisms that potentially enhance human life.  

In previous research, he showed that endurance exercise protected hearts against ischemic heart disease by improving mitochondrial function and antioxidant capacity. Currently, he is investigating whether exercise-induced autophagy, a cellular cargo system by which dysfunctional organelles and dilapidated proteins are removed contributes to conferring cardioprotection. Recent research, published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, revealed that daily physical activity regulates autophagy, which he believes is an essential process for cardioprotection. 

Lee and Yongchul Jang, a postdoctoral scholar at UWF, are also evaluating the potential protective effect of endurance exercise on neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson鈥檚 and Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. In recent collaborative work, published in Journal of Apoptosis, Lee and his colleagues reported that regular endurance exercise confers neuroprotection by generating new neurons in hippocampus, an area in charge of memory. He and Jang are currently developing a drug-induced Parkinson鈥檚 disease model and seeking a mechanism of how endurance exercise protects the brain against Parkinson鈥檚 disease. 

To further expand this line of research, he received an endowment from the Center for Research and Economic Opportunity to purchase a fluorescent microscope and an imaging system. 

He received a bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degree in exercise science from the Korean National Sport University in Seoul, Korea, and a second master鈥檚 degree in muscle physiology from the University of Texas at Austin, and doctorate in exercise biochemistry from the University of Florida. He was also a post-doctoral scholar in molecular cardiology in the University of California San Diego.