Profiles

Christopher N. Parkhurst

Graduate Student, Neuroscience and Physiology
BS Biology, Cornell University
Email:
Faculty Mentor: Wenbiao Gan, Ph.D.

I am interested in studying pathological processes within the mammalian central nervous system. My current work in the Gan laboratory focuses on the role of the resident CNS macrophages known as microglia in several pathological conditions. More specifically, I am interested in delimiting the extent of microglial involvement in neuroinflammatory conditions as well as in the mouse model known as experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE). To this end we are currently generating mice to allow us to specifically target microglial cells for ablation and/or genetic manipulation.

Thesis

Focusing on generation of a microglia/macrophage lineage specific inducible Cre recombinase mouse model in order to better understand the role of microglia in CNS inflammation

Research Interests

Glial Biology; Neuroimmunology; Neuroinflammation; Microglial/Neuronal Interactions

Selected Publications

Lieberthal JG, Kaminsky M, Parkhurst CN, Tanese N. The role of YY1 in reduced HP1alpha gene expression in invasive human breast cancer cells. Breast Cancer Res. 2009 Jun;11(3):R42. Epub 2009 Jun 30. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 19566924. doi: 10.1186/bcr2329. PMCID: PMC2716511.

Cui L, Jeong H, Borovecki F, Parkhurst CN, Tanese N, Krainc D. Transcriptional repression of PGC-1alpha by mutant huntingtin leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and neurodegeneration. Cell. 2006 Oct 6;127(1):59-69. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17018277. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2006.09.015.

Davalos D, Parkhurst CN, Grutzendler J, Yang G, Kim JV, Dustin ML, Gan W-B. ATP mediates rapid microglial response to local brain injury (Abstract). In: 1st Meeting on Glia In Health and Disease (July 20-24). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York: 2006.

Additional Information

Gan Lab