Dr. Christopher Deppmann, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Director, Neuroscience Graduate Program
Departments of Biology,  Biomedical Engineering, Cell Biology, and Neuroscience
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA

Hangout Title:  Assembling and disassembling the nervous system
Hangout Schedule: April 7th - 3 pm EST, 2pm CST, 12 pm PST



 


Research Interests

Our lab is interested in the mechanism governing nervous system assembly and disassembly.  We pursue several different aspects of peripheral nervous system development including competition for survival (Science, 2008) and synapse formation/restriction (Neuron, 2010).  We are now considering how antagonistic cytokine signaling governs nervous system construction and refinement. Indeed my group is actively pursuing the molecular basis for long-distance neurotrophic construction signaling (Nat. Neuro, 2014; J. Neuro, 2015).  We are also pursuing how TNFR family signaling suppresses pro-growth cues to promote nervous system refinement (Neuron, 2014). In collaboration with the Güler lab, we are building non-invasive tools to better understand the signaling pathways underlying neural circuit assembly and function (Nat. Neuro, 2016).  Finally, we are applying what we've learned about the development of the nervous system to nervous system pathology related to degeneration, pain, and metabolism.

There are several projects that are available which will be scaled for undergrad students, grad students, or post-docs. To learn more about potential research projects for people to work on, visit my lab webpage.

Representative Publications

Martorella M., Barford, K., Winckler, B., Deppmann C.D. (2017) Emergent role for Coronin1a in neuronal signaling. Vitamins and Hormones: Neurotrophins (invited chapter) (in press).
 
Barford, K., Deppmann, C., and Winckler, B. (2016). "The neurotrophin receptor signaling endosome: where trafficking meets signaling." Developmental Neurobiology.
 
Kodis, E. J., Smindak, R. J., Kefauver, J. M., Heffner, D. L., Aschenbach, K. L., Brennan, E. R., Chan, K., Gamage, K. K., Lambeth, P. S., Lawler, J. R., Sikora, A. K., Vercruysse, N. R. and Deppmann, C. D. (2012). First Messengers. eLS.
 
Ross, E., Ali, M., Woo, L., Chadwick, S., Lee, E., Sangston, R., Sood, C., Zhang, Q., Zhang, X., and Deppmann, C. (2016). Reverse Signalling. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0026897].
 
Huckaby, A., Dombrovski, M., Maher, E., Naimi, W., Perez, M., Skyberg, R., Smolko, C., Barford, K., Winckler, B., and Deppmann, C. (2015). Signalling from Endosomes and Exosomes. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0026278].
 
Pahl, M., Askinazi, O., Hamilton, C., Cheng, I., Cichewicz, K., Kuhn, J., Manohar, S., and Deppmann, C. (2013). Signalling via Single‐Pass Transmembrane Proteins. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0025160]