Alex Nechiporuk
Oregon Health & Science University, OR·Neuroscience
A developing nervous system has to wire itself up, and neurons that look alike can behave very differently. This lab asks how individual neurons acquire their distinct identities and properties.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Genetics
Biology
- Topics
pioneer neurons
follower neurons
axon guidance
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through May 2030
What they work on
- Determine the lineage relationship between pioneer and follower sensory neurons in zebrafish and identify the molecular signals that specify pioneers, building on scRNA-seq and an rpz5 fluorescent reporter that marks pioneer axons.
- Test the role of signaling pathways that differ between ret-positive pioneers and ret-negative followers in how each neuron type develops, focusing on the 101 genes found to differ between them.
- Uncover the molecular basis of the distinct physiological properties of pioneer and follower neurons, and test whether the pioneer gene signature reflects a cell state shared across the developing nervous system.
- Develop a single-cell method that pairs PacBio long-read sequencing of targeted RNAs with short-read scRNA-seq, to map adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA edits in neurons whose subtype is known.
- Benchmark the single-neuron A-to-I editing method against bulk RNA-seq of the same neuronal subtypes, to measure how editing efficiency varies between neuron types and between cells.
More about the research
One project studies "pioneer" neurons, the first cells to grow nerve fibers (axons) into new territory. The other develops a way to measure, in single neurons, a chemical change to RNA that alters how key neuron proteins work. Both projects rely on single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), which reads the genes active in each individual cell.
Why it matters
Identifying the factors that commit a neuron to the pioneer fate could provide a list of new therapeutic targets for nerve injury and regeneration. Because pioneers share core functions with many neurons, the findings may also apply across the nervous system. Mapping RNA editing in single neurons could give mechanistic insight into epilepsy, ALS and psychiatric disorders. It could also yield editing-based biomarkers for classifying these diseases.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
John Archie Pollock
Duquesne University, PA·Neuroscience
Define which RNA splice isoforms of ATF3, an injury-responsive transcription factor, underlie sex differences in pain and pain relief in rat dorsal root ganglia after sciatic nerve constriction.
Gemma Carvill
Northwestern University, IL·Genetics
Identify the RNA-binding proteins that cause extra splicing-in of an SCN1A poison exon in people with epilepsy, using splice reporters and proteomics, and test whether antisense oligonucleotides correct it in patient iPSC-derived neurons.
Dean Sheppard
University of California-San Francisco, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Compare when inflammatory fibroblasts emerge, how long they persist and what they become in mouse lungs injured by bleomycin, silica or LPS, using Scube2-CreER lineage tracing of alveolar fibroblasts.
The school
Oregon Health & Science University: 24 labs on PI Pages, $545M a year on research, 54 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.