Neurology and Neurosurgery

COGNITIVE ROBOTICS

.Research Interest: involve the utility of EEG and qEEG technology to assist with medication selection and titration

Professor of Neurology, Senior Neurologist, Chairman of the Neurosciences Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hatieganu” Cluj-Napoca, President of the Romanian Society of Neurology, President of the Society for the Study of Neuroprotection and Neuroplasticity (SSNN), member of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Romania, secretary of its Cluj Branch. He is also member of 13 scientific international societies (being member of the American Neurological Association (ANA) - Fellow of ANA (FANA) since 2012) and 7 national ones, being part of the executive board of most. Professor Dafin F. Muresanu is a specialist in Leadership and Management of Research and Health Care Systems (specialization in Management and Leadership, Arthur Anderson Institute, Illinois, USA, 1998 and several international courses and training stages in Neurology, research, management and leadership). Professor Dafin F. Muresanu is coordinator in international educational programs of European Master (i.e. European Master in Stroke Medicine, University of Krems), organizer and co-organizer of many educational projects: European and international schools and courses (International School of Neurology, European Stroke Organisation summer School, Danubian Neurological Society Teaching Courses, Seminars - Department of Neurosciences, European Teaching Courses on Neurorehabilitation) and scientific events: congresses, conferences, symposia (International Congresses of the Society for the Study of Neuroprotection and Neuroplasticity (SSNN), International Association of Neurorestoratology (IANR) & Global College for Neuroprotection and Neuroregeneration (GCNN) Conferences, Vascular Dementia Congresses (VaD), World Congresses on Controversies in Neurology (CONy), Danube Society Neurology Congresses, World Academy for Multidisciplinary Neurotraumatolgy (AMN) Congresses, Congresses of European Society for Clinical Neuropharmacology, European Congresses of Neurorehabilitation). His activity includes involvement in many national and international clinical studies and research projects, over 300 scientific participations as “invited speaker” in national and international scientific events, a significant portfolio of scientific articles (120 papers indexed on Web of Science-ISI, H-index: 14) as well as contributions in monographs and books published by prestigious international publishing houses. Prof. Dr. Dafin F. Muresanu has been honoured with: the Academy of Romanian Scientists, “Carol Davila Award for Medical Sciences / 2011”, for the contribution to the Neurosurgery book “Tratat de Neurochirurgie” (vol.2), Editura Medicala, Bucuresti, 2011; the Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hatieganu” Cluj-Napoca “Octavian Fodor Award” for the best scientific activity of the year 2010 and the 2009 Romanian Academy “Gheorghe Marinescu Award” for advanced contributions in Neuroprotection and Neuroplasticity.

Neuroprotection, Neuroplasticity, Neuroregeneration

Research Interest: NEURO-Ophthalmology

Dr. Ye received his undergraduate training in Organic Chemistry at Jilin University, China (BS, 1990); Graduate training in Polymer Chemistry at Beijing University, China (MS, 1993); and Graduate training in Biochemistry at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (Ph.D. 1998); Postdoctoral training with Dr. Solomon H. Snyder at Johns Hopkins University (1998-2001). At the end of 2001, he joined the faculty of Emory University School of Medicine (Assistant Professor in Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, 2001-2007; Associate professor, 2007-2010; Full Professor, 2010-Present). Dr. Ye is the recipient of numerous professional honors, including the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Sontag Foundation (2003) and American Cancer Research Scholar (2004), and he is also one of the semi-finalists for Keck Foundation (2004). He has published approximately 140 papers with numerous papers in top journals including: Cell, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Mol. Cell, EMBO J, PNAS etc. Dr. Ye has made a unique contribution to the anti-cancer drug arsenal in 1998, when he was a graduate student at Emory. He discovered a novel opium alkaloid, noscapine, as an anti-cancer drug. He has shown that noscapine binds to tubulin, affects microtubule assembly, and arrests mammalian cells in mitosis. Furthermore, noscapine causes apoptosis and has potent antitumor activity. His discovery was broadly reported by numerous major media including ABC News, CNN and Science Magazine in 1998. He has several patents on this drug. In 2000, Dr. Ye disclosed a long-awaited nuclear GTPase, PIKE, which specifically regulates nuclear PI 3-kinase signaling cascade. This finding provides insight into the molecular mechanism of how nuclear PI 3-kinase is activated in the nucleus. Moreover, he found that PLC-1 acts as a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for PIKE GTPase. In 2001, he was nominated as an assistant professor at Emory University. In 2003, he found that PIKE-L isoform can mediate mGluR’s anti-apoptotic action by binding to its adaptor protein Homer. This finding indicates that the PIKE-L/Homer complex mediates the well-known ability of agonists of Group I mGluRs to prevent neuronal apoptosis. Dr. Ye also discovered that PIKE is amplified in numerous human cancers and acts as a proto-oncogene by activating Akt in 2004. His lab established the nuclear signaling of NGF in promoting neuronal survival. In 2008, he discovered a novel asparagine proteinase (AEP) that mediates neuronal cell death during stroke, and PIKE robustly inhibits this protease activation, preventing neuronal damage in stroke. He also finds that PIKE binds netrin receptors UNC5B and DCC and exerts neuroprotective functions. In 2010, he identified numerous novel TrkA and TrkB agonists. These small molecules exhibit potent neurotrophic effect and display great therapeutic potentials for various neurological diseases including AD. Now, one of the small TrkB agonists is in IND drug development stage for treating AD. Most recently, he has also discovered oral insulin mimetic compounds for treating diabetes. Most recently, he found that AEP acts as a novel delta-secretase that cleaves both APP and Tau and mediates AD pathogenesis. It is an innovative drug target for treating AD. His lab has identified the small molecular inhibitors that display promising therapeutic efficacy toward AD.

Research Interests: 1. The molecular mechanisms in Neurodegenerative diseases including Alzherimer’s disease and Parkinson’s diseases 2. Drug discovery and development for neurological diseases including depression, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease and human cancers 3. Neurotrophin signalings in neuronal survival and glioblastoma progression

Aruna Sharma, MD is currently Secretary of Research at Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala University, Sweden. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in 1971 and trained in Indian Medicine up to 1977 and engaged in medical research from 1978 to 1986 in India on hyperthermia induced brain dysfunction in the lab of Hari Sharma and Prasanta Kumar Dey under University Grants Commission and Indian Council of Medical Research Programs. She is a qualified experimental Neurpathologist and received her training at Karl Marx University Leipzig, Institute of Neurobiology (1987-1988); Semmelweis University Medical School, Department of Human Morphology and Developmental Biology, Budapest, Hungary (1988-1989), Free University Berlin, Germany (1989-1991) and Neuropathology Institute Uppsala (1992-1995). She was further engaged in experimental neuropathological research at Uppsala University Hospital in the laboratory of Neuropathology of Hari Sharma and Yngve Olsson under Swedish Medical Research Council Program. She continued to work with Hari Sharma and Jan Westman in the department of Neuroanatomy, Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University from 1996 until 2003 on neuroimmunohistochemistry of experimental and human brain diseases. Since 2004 she joined Department of Surgical Sciences, Anesthesiology & Intensive Care Medicine and working with Hari Sharma on various research programs including Nanotechnology in the CNS and disease modulation by endocrine or cardiovascular anomalies in the CNS and neuroprotection under various National and International Research Programs. Dr Sharma is member of various Distinguished American Organizations and elected to receive the prestigious award “Women of the Years Representing Sweden Award 2009” for her outstanding contributions towards society by American Biographical Research Institute, USA; and “Best Professional Business Women Award 2010” For Setting Standard to Motivate, Excel and Inspire Others, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. She has published over 50 original research papers in Reputed Neuroscience Journals and is currently Acquisition Editor of American Journal of Neuroproetction and Neuroregenartion.

Jean-Pierre Mothet have been investigated the functions of astrocyte-neuron interactions and the novel brain messenger D-serine in synapse physiology in the central nervous system. He has 20 years of research experience with synaptic transmission and cell signalling. He received his MSc in Physiology at the University of Lyon in 1992 and then his PhD in Neuroscience from the University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, in 1996. During his PhD under the supervision of DR. Ladislav Tauc in Gif-sur-Yvette (France), he studied biophysics and neuropharmacology of synaptic transmission in the sea slug Aplysia. After his Ph.D, he moved to the USA to carry out postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Pr Solomon H. Snyder at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore (USA). There he worked at exploring the functions and the synthesis pathway of brain D-amino acids a novel class of brain molecules with a special focus on D-serine. He discovered that D-serine rather than glycine is the endogenous coagonist of synaptic N-Methyl D-Aspartate subtype of glutamatergic receptors in the hippocampus, a breakthrough with profound lasting impact in the fields of synaptic physiology and neuropharmacology. He also helped to identify serine racemase the enzyme that synthesizes D-serine from L-serine in the brain. In 1999, he took a second postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Professor Jacopo Meldolesi In 1999 (Milano, Italy), one of the most eminent cell biologists in Europe where he got trained in the study of calcium-dependent exocytosis of transmitter release and membrane trafficking. Since 2000 as a CNRS scientist, he has been continuously developping an unique and very innovative project in France and EU on the neurobiology of D-serine. His team investigates the regulation of NMDA receptors by their co-agonists (D-serine and glycine) at synapses and circuits underlying memory formation, motivation and decision-making in the context of neuron-glia interactions of the healthy and diseased nervous system. He also explores the molecular and cellular events driving gliotransmission, i.e. the process by which glia releases chemical messengers, and the functional relevance of this process for synapses patterning and neuronal network functions. He was first to establish that astrocytes release D-serine through a calcium and SNARE protein-regulated exocytosis (PNAS 2005) of synaptobrevin2 positive secretory organelles (Glia 2008). More recently, he developed unique protocols for the purification of glial vesicles and found functional evidence for the existence of a vesicular transporter for D-serine (J Neurosci 2013). Growing on his expertise in the field, he has shown that in the hypothalamus D-serine released by astrocytes controls the direction and the amplitude of long-term synaptic plasticity (Cell 2006). Furthermore, his team has demonstrated that at mature synapses D-serine is the right co-agonist for synaptic GluN2A-containing NMDARs at glutamatergic neurons in the prefrontal cortex (Cereb Cortex 2012) and in the hippocampus (Cell 2012) while glycine is the co-agonist for extrasynaptic GluN2B-containing NMDARs. He has also shown that the identity of the co-agonist is synapse specific and developmentally regulated in the hippocampus paralleling the developmental switch of GluN2A/2B subunits (PNAS 2015). His team has also discovered that D-serine plays a central role in learning and memory and that a deficit in its synthesis is responsible for the cognitive and synaptic deficits associated to normal aging (Aging Cell 2006, 2012). He is currently leading the lab \'Gliotransmission and Synaptopathies\' at the Centre de Recherches en Neurobiologie et Neurophysiologie de Marseille (France) where his team is combining cell biology, biochemistry, and cellular electrophysiology with live cell imaging and the development of biosensors. In 2012, he was elected President of the French Club of Glial Cells an association aimed to ^romote and support research on glial cells. He is the member of the Editorial board of Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience and of PlosONE. His research is internationally recognized and has stimulated many research programs in academy and Industry in France and worldwide. His research have paved the ways for the development of new drug-based therapies of cognitive deficits during normal aging but also for those associated to psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.

Research Interests: 1. Regulation of NMDA receptors by their co-agonists in the healthy and diseased nervous system 2. Molecular and cellular mechanisms of gliotransmission and the functional impact of this process in synapse and neuronal network patterning and dynamics, 3. Development of technologies like biosensors.

Neurology

Neurology and Neurosurgery

Neurology and Neurosurgery