Research
Intercellular relationships and molecules that control neuronal migration in the developing mammalian spinal cord
Appointments
- Professor, Integrative Biology and Physiology
- Member, ACCESS Program: Dept. of Molecular, Cell & Integrative Physiology
- Neuroscience IDP
- Brain Research Institute
- Faculty, Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology IDP
Biography
The Phelps laboratory studies the mechanisms of neuronal migration in developing rodent spinal cord. Recent experiments focused on migration errors in mice with gene deletions in the Reelin-signaling pathway.
Phelps and her colleagues discovered that the loss of Reelin, both Reelin receptors (Apoer2/Vldlr) or the adaptor protein Disabled-1 (Dab1) cause indistinguishable positioning errors in the spinal cord that lead to defects in nociception – a profound reduction in mechanical sensitivity and an increased sensitivity to noxious heat. Thus the mutants of the Reelin-signaling pathway naturally segregate the biological basis of thermal and mechanical pain transmission.
Symptoms associated with the human mutation include a severe delay in cognitive development and profound learning disabilities.