Faculty

Autosomal dominant neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus is an inherited disease that involves arginine vasopressin deficiency due to specific degeneration of magnocellular neurons. We are using tissue culture and transgenic animal models to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which dominant mutations in the gene encoding vasopressin trigger this neurodegeneration . The lab also has created a genetic knockout of a calcium-regulated cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, PDE1B, that is an interface between the calcium and the cAMP signal transduction pathways in the striatum. PDE1B null animals are hyperactive and have learning deficits, and we are investigating the neurobiology of these animals to learn how dopamine signals are regulated within the striatum.

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