Appointments
- Associate Adjunct Professor
Biography
Dr. Le Belle is an adjunct associate professor faculty member with expertise in stem cell biology, exogenous and endogenous cellular brain repair following injury, fatty acid metabolism, signaling, and regulation of neural stem cells in the aging brain and in glioma stem cells, and the effects of neuroinflammation on brain development, neural stem cell function, and neurogenesis. She has worked for several years on the etiology of brain overgrowth, abnormal sensory processing, and abnormal behaviors in neurodevelopmental mouse models. Her lab is currently funded to research the shared brain functional circuitry, physiological (heart) responses, and cognitive function in mice and humans with sensory over-responsivity and post-concussion sensory hyper-sensitivity to identify if there are convergent mechanisms between disorders and across species. The lab is also pursuing research on the effects of neuro-inflammatory risk factors like Diabetes and prior Covid infections on sensory, motor, and cognitive outcomes following repeat concussion injury. Dr. Le Belle teaches Neuroanatomy, Neurophilosophy, and Stem Cell Biology classes on campus. She has both a research and academic interest in furthering our understanding of human consciousness and conscious sensory experience and interoception.
Education
- Ph.D., Biochemistry, University College London, 1995-1999
- B.A, Philosophy, Neuroscience, University of Florida, 1990-1995
Publications
- Le Belle, JE, Condro, M, Cepeda, C, Oikonomou, KD, Tessema, K, Dudley, L et al.. Acute rapamycin treatment reveals novel mechanisms of behavioral, physiological, and functional dysfunction in a maternal inflammation mouse model of autism and sensory over-responsivity. bioRxiv. 2024; :. doi: 10.1101/2024.07.08.602602. PubMed PMID:39026891 PubMed Central PMC11257517.
- Ludwig, K, Le Belle, JE, Muthukrishnan, SD, Sperry, J, Condro, M, Vlashi, E et al.. Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate Oxidase Promotes Glioblastoma Radiation Resistance in a Phosphate and Tensin Homolog-Dependent Manner. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2023;39 (13-15):890-903. doi: 10.1089/ars.2022.0086. PubMed PMID:37470216 PubMed Central PMC10775910.
- Sperry, J, Condro, MC, Guo, L, Braas, D, Vanderveer-Harris, N, Kim, KKO et al.. Glioblastoma Utilizes Fatty Acids and Ketone Bodies for Growth Allowing Progression during Ketogenic Diet Therapy. iScience. 2020;23 (9):101453. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101453. PubMed PMID:32861192 PubMed Central PMC7471621.
- Le Belle, JE, Kornblum, HI. Interactive Regulation of Neuronal Development by Hippocampal Stem Cell Niche Populations. Neuron. 2019;101 (1):1-2. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.12.017. PubMed PMID:30605653 .
- Le Belle, JE, Sperry, J, Ngo, A, Ghochani, Y, Laks, DR, López-Aranda, M et al.. Maternal inflammation contributes to brain overgrowth and autism-associated behaviors through altered redox signaling in stem and progenitor cells. Stem Cell Reports. 2014;3 (5):725-34. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2014.09.004. PubMed PMID:25418720 PubMed Central PMC4235743.