MRI Welcomes Affiliate Research Faculty Members
McLaughlin Research Institute is pleased to announce several new affiliate faculty members who are focused on translating basic research into cures and have projects underway at MRI. Our new colleagues are:
1. Jeffrey Carroll, Ph.D. While Jeff was serving in the U.S. Army in Kosovo,his mother was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease – a fatal, incurable,genetically inherited neurodegenerative disease that had killed his grandmother.After he learned that he had inherited the genetic abnormality that causes Huntington’s, Jeff embarked on a career as a neuroscientist that has included postdoctoral training at Harvard and a post at Western Washington University,where he is Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and one of the country’s leading Huntington’s researchers. In work funded by the CHDI foundation(http://chdifoundation.org) he and his group will be conducting preclinical trials of a promising new gene-silencing approach to Huntington’s disease at MRI, using mice genetically engineered to model the disease.http://www.wwu.edu/neuroscience/Carroll%20lab%20page.shtml
2. Niels Danbolt, MD, Ph.D., is Professor of Medicine in the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo in Norway. Dr. Danbolt’s work has resulted in the creation of several innovative genetic models to study and eventually develop treatments for neurodegenerative disorders like epilepsy. Aresearch collaboration between the Danbolt and Kavanaugh labs is focused on transporters for neurotransmitters that are involved in critical brain functions like perception and memory. Dr. Danbolt and his associates will spend part of the year in Montana for these studies funded by the Research Council of Norway and the U.S. National Institutes of Health.https://www.med.uio.no/imb/english/people/aca/ncd/
3. Ed Schmidt, Ph.D., is Professor in Montana State University’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Dr. Schmidt’s NIH-funded research is focused on understanding the role of gene regulation in processes ranging from aging to cancer. His lab has created innovative genetic models in mice that are now being used in research at MRI. His studies of the mechanisms involved in handling oxidative stress are shedding new light on the links between metabolism and a wide range of disease processes including many that affect the brain.http://www.montana.edu/mbi/facultyandstaff/EdSchmidt.html