Current Research Description

My lab is an interdisciplinary research team dedicated to understanding the complexities of CNS injury, inflammation, and tissue repair.  Inflammation is necessary for efficient repair of injured tissues but it also causes collateral damage to healthy tissues. In the brain and spinal cord, where most cells are post-mitotic and do not regenerate well, chronic non-resolving inflammation can have devastating consequences.  We are working to understand how and why after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), a breakdown in communication between three critical "super systems": the central nervous system, immune system and gastrointestinal system leads to ineffective repair of the injured nervous system and also the onset of systemic disease.