My lab investigates the roles of early inflammation in tissue damage and wound healing following spinal cord injury. We employ genetic and pharmacological methods to study how immune receptors (e.g. L-selection) and signaling pathways alter the accumulation and activation of early arriving immune cells, predominantly neutrophils. We are also developing new three-dimensional imaging strategies to characterize inflammation and tissue damage after spinal cord injury. Utilizing tissue clearing techniques and lightsheet microscopy, we can visualize the spatiotemporal effects of spinal cord injury in a manner previously unachievable with traditional imaging modalities. With the knowledge gained from these studies, we aim to develop novel neuroprotective strategies to reduce inflammatory damage and improve long-term recovery for the spinal cord injured patient.

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7. McCreedy, DA, Abram, CL, Hu, Y, Min, SW, Platt, ME, Kirchhoff, MA et al.. Spleen tyrosine kinase facilitates neutrophil activation and worsens long-term neurologic deficits after spinal cord injury. J Neuroinflammation. 2021;18 (1):302. doi: 10.1186/s12974-021-02353-2. PubMed PMID:34952603 PubMed Central PMC8705173.
8. Gibbs, HC, Mota, SM, Hart, NA, Min, SW, Vernino, AO, Pritchard, AL et al.. Navigating the Light-Sheet Image Analysis Software Landscape: Concepts for Driving Cohesion From Data Acquisition to Analysis. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021;9 :739079. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.739079. PubMed PMID:34858975 PubMed Central PMC8631767.
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