FAU Receives NIH Grant for Nerve Repair Research
Study examines new brain cells to find potential treatments for nerve damage.
Florida Atlantic University neuroscientist Laura Fontenas, Ph.D., has received a $448,664 grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate how a newly identified type of glial cell produces myelin, the protective insulation surrounding nerve fibers in the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. The research could provide new insights into myelin loss associated with diseases such as multiple sclerosis and how damaged myelin might be repaired.
Using zebrafish, Fontenas and her team will study the molecular mechanisms that control these cells and whether healthy myelin-producing cells can be redirected to damaged areas of the nervous system. The project also will provide undergraduate students in South Florida with hands-on research opportunities in neuroscience.
“I’m excited to receive this NIH grant because it gives us the opportunity to understand a completely new population of glial cells and, more importantly, to determine how flexible myelin-producing cells can be at the boundary between the central and peripheral nervous systems,” said Fontenas, an assistant professor of neuroscience in FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and a member of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute. “We hope this work will reveal fundamental mechanisms of glial cell migration and myelin formation that other scientists can use to better understand nerve repair and develop new approaches to treating diseases in which myelin is lost such as multiple sclerosis.”