Faculty Book

DAMIEN D. PEARSE, PH.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurologicial Surgery

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Research Interests

My laboratory focuses on several key aspects of spinal cord injury repair: 1) preventing progressive tissue damage following the initial mechanical trauma through the application of pharmacological or biological neuroprotectants, 2) overcoming the physical impediment of the injury cyst through the implantation of exogenous cells or by harnessing endogenous cellular repair mechanisms and, 3) the promotion of axon regeneration by the stimulation of intracellular signaling pathways that are important in the initiation and/or maintainence of axon growth. The overall goal of the laboratory is to identify and/or develop effective combinatory strategies that target all of these deficiences so as to establish an efficacious treatment regimen for clinical implementation in human SCI. It is also our aim to find strategies that are amenable to the acute and/or chronic phases of SCI and that are not associated with adverse effects that would negate the benefits of such therapies clinically (development of pain, tumor formation etc.)

Video Introduction

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Selected Publications View all Publications  Berrocal YA, Pearse DD, Andrade CM, Hechtman JF, Puentes R, Eaton MJ (2007) Increased spinal c-Fos expression with noxious and non-noxious peripheral stimulation after severe spinal contusion. Neurosci Lett 413: 58-62. Pearse DD, Barakat DJ (2006) Cell grafting for spinal cord injury repair: cell replacement and bridging strategies. In: Cell Transplantation: From Laboratory to Clinic (Halberstadt C, Emerich D, eds), pp 461. Academic Press, Elsevier Press. Pearse DD, Barakat DJ (2006) Cellular repair strategies for spinal cord injury. Expert Opin Biol Ther 6: 639-652. Pearse DD, Bunge MB (2006) Designing cell- and gene-based regeneration strategies to repair the injured spinal cord. J Neurotrauma 23: 437-452. Sipski ML, Pearse DD (2006) Methylprednisolone and other confounders to spinal cord injury clinical trials. Nat Clin Pract Neurol 2: 402-403. Barakat DJ, Gaglani SM, Neravetla SR, Sanchez AR, Andrade CM, Pressman Y, Puzis R, Garg MS, Bunge MB, Pearse DD (2005) Survival, integration, and axon growth support of glia transplanted into the chronically contused spinal cord. Cell Transplant 14: 225-240. Fouad K, Schnell L, Bunge MB, Schwab ME, Liebscher T, Pearse DD (2005) Combining Schwann cell bridges and olfactory-ensheathing glia grafts with chondroitinase promotes locomotor recovery after complete transection of the spinal cord. J Neurosci 25: 1169-1178. Pearse DD, Lo TP, Cho KS, Lynch MP, Garg MS, Marcillo AE, Sanchez AR, Cruz Y, Dietrich WD (2005) Histopathological and behavioral characterization of a novel cervical spinal cord displacement contusion injury in the rat. J Neurotrauma 22: 680-702. Meijs MF, Timmers L, Pearse DD, Tresco PA, Bates ML, Joosten EA, Bunge MB, Oudega M (2004) Basic fibroblast growth factor promotes neuronal survival but not behavioral recovery in the transected and Schwann cell implanted rat thoracic spinal cord. J Neurotrauma 21: 1415-1430. Pearse DD, Pereira FC, Marcillo AE, Bates ML, Berrocal YA, Filbin MT, Bunge MB (2004) cAMP and Schwann cells promote axonal growth and functional recovery after spinal cord injury. Nat Med 10: 610-616. Pearse DD, Pereira FC, Stolyarova A, Barakat DJ, Bunge MB (2004) Inhibition of tumour necrosis factor-alpha by antisense targeting produces immunophenotypical and morphological changes in injury-activated microglia and macrophages. Eur J Neurosci 20: 3387-3396. Pearse DD, Marcillo AE, Oudega M, Lynch MP, Wood PM, Bunge MB (2004) Transplantation of Schwann cells and olfactory ensheathing glia after spinal cord injury: does pretreatment with methylprednisolone and interleukin-10 enhance recovery? J Neurotrauma 21: 1223-1239.

Last updated:  May 8, 2007

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