Yungki Park
University at Buffalo, NY·Neuroscience
Nerve fibers (axons) in the brain and spinal cord are wrapped in myelin, an insulating sheath that the central nervous system (CNS) needs to function. Myelin is made by oligodendrocytes, support cells that mature from precursor cells.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Genetics
Biology
- Topics
myelination
oligodendrocytes
oligodendrocyte lineage
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Determine whether Mef2d, a transcription factor that boosts the master regulator Olig2, controls Olig2 expression in oligodendrocyte-lineage cells in vivo.
- Test whether Mef2d is needed for oligodendrocytes to form myelin, the insulating sheath around nerve fibers in the central nervous system.
- Expand the search for new upstream regulators of Olig2 by looking for transcription factors that change the activity of Olig2-E1, an oligodendrocyte enhancer (DNA control switch) the team identified.
More about the research
A protein called Olig2 is a master regulator of this cell lineage. Olig2 is a transcription factor, a protein that switches other genes on and off. It is required for neural progenitors to enter the oligodendrocyte lineage and for those cells to mature into myelin-forming oligodendrocytes. Despite this central role, little is known about how Olig2 itself is switched on in these cells.
Why it matters
This work maps the genetic control network that drives oligodendrocyte development, the step that produces myelin in the brain and spinal cord. Myelin sheaths are essential for nerve fibers to work. Knowing which factors switch on Olig2 could therefore inform future understanding of how the central nervous system functions and of diseases in which it fails.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Leora Yetnikoff
College of Staten Island CUNY, NY·Neuroscience·Early-career
Test whether mesocortical dopamine terminals form anatomical and functional interactions with oligodendrocyte lineage cells, the myelin-forming cells, in the mouse medial prefrontal cortex using neuroanatomical approaches.
William S Talbot
Stanford University, CA·Neuroscience
Determine how newly identified positive and negative regulators of myelination control the wrapping of nerve fibers by oligodendrocytes during development, neural plasticity and remyelination, using zebrafish genetics and cellular analysis.
Amy Sater
University of Houston, TX·Biology
Test how retinoic acid, a vitamin A-derived signal that patterns the embryo from head to tail, triggers the start of glial cell formation in the front region of the developing spinal cord of Xenopus laevis embryos.
The school
University at Buffalo: 32 labs on PI Pages, $542M a year on research, 316 research doctorates a year.
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