Research
Generation and repair of neural circuits
Appointments
- Assistant Professor, Brain Research Institute
- Member, Neuroscience GPB Home Area
- Adjunct Assistant Professor, Neurobiology
Appointments
Dr. Butler is focused on determining how neurons translate morphogens, such as the Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) family of growth factors, over time to mediate strikingly different processes in the generation of neural circuits. During the course of these studies, she identified a critical mechanism by which the rate of axon outgrowth is controlled during development.
The Butler laboratory is now examining how this process can be harnessed to accelerate axon growth in a regenerative context to stimulate the repair of neural circuits. The successful implementation of this technology could result in significantly improved recovery times for patients with damaged nervous systems.
Publications
- Mocanu, EM, Ben-Ishay, Y, Topping, L, Fisher, SR, Hunter, RI, Su, XC et al.. Robustness and Sensitivity of Gd(III)-Gd(III) Double Electron-Electron Resonance (DEER) Measurements: Comparative Study of High-Frequency EPR Spectrometer Designs and Spin Label Variants. Appl Magn Reson. 2025;56 (5):591-611. doi: 10.1007/s00723-024-01741-0. PubMed PMID:40297741 PubMed Central PMC12033185.
- Bodman, SE, Stachelek, P, Rehman, U, Plasser, F, Pal, R, Butler, SJ et al.. A switch-on luminescent europium(iii) probe for selective and time-resolved detection of adenosine diphosphate (ADP). Chem Sci. 2025;16 (13):5602-5612. doi: 10.1039/d4sc07188c. PubMed PMID:40028620 PubMed Central PMC11868914.
- Butler, SJ, Paszat, L, Gershon, AS. Lung Cancer and COPD: Opportunities to Leverage Lung Cancer Screening Programs to Improve COPD Diagnostics. Healthc Q. 2024;27 (3):7-10. doi: 10.12927/hcq.2024.27494. PubMed PMID:39691042 .
- Alvarez, S, Gupta, S, Mercado-Ayon, Y, Honeychurch, K, Rodriguez, C, Kawaguchi, R et al.. Netrin1 patterns the dorsal spinal cord through modulation of Bmp signaling. Cell Rep. 2024;43 (11):114954. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114954. PubMed PMID:39547237 PubMed Central PMC11756817.
- Pyle, HK, Judd, M, Barancewicz, A, Mayer, AJ, Cox, N, Kondrat, SA et al.. Elucidating Polyphosphate Anion Binding to Lanthanide Complexes Using EXAFS and Pulsed EPR Spectroscopy. Inorg Chem. 2024;63 (43):20726-20736. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.4c03399. PubMed PMID:39412769 PubMed Central PMC11523222.