Resume

• 2004

  Institute of Biomaterial and Biomedical Engineering

  Institute of Medical Science

  Institute of Biomaterial and Biomedical Engineering

  University of Toronto

  Toronto

  Canada Area

  Professor

  Division of Anatomy

  Department of Surgery

  BSc

  PhD

  Neuroscience

  University of Toronto

• 2003

  Morshead

  University of Toronto

  Professor

  Rehabilitation Sciences Institute

  University of Toronto

  Institute of Medical Science

• Genomics

  Microscopy

  Materials Science

  Biomedical Engineering

  Higher Education

  Research

  Research Design

  Genetics

  Programming

  Molecular Biology

  Psychology

  qPCR

  Healthcare

  Cell Culture

  Community Outreach

  Biomaterials

  Cancer

  Adult Education

  Tissue Culture

  Animal Models

  Wnt signaling regulates symmetry of division of neural stem cells in the adult brain and in response to injury

  Neural stem cells comprise a small population of subependymal cells in the adult brain that divide asymmetrically under baseline conditions to maintain the stem cell pool and divide symmetrically in response to injury to increase their numbers. Using in vivo and in vitro models

  we demonstrate that Wnt signaling plays a role in regulating the symmetric divisions of adult neural stem cells with no change in the proliferation kinetics of the progenitor population. Using BAT-gal transgenic reporter mice to identify cells with active Wnt signaling

  we demonstrate that Wnt signaling is absent in stem cells in conditions where they are dividing asymmetrically and that it is upregulated when stem cells are dividing symmetrically

  such as (a) during subependymal regeneration in vivo

  (b) in response to stroke

  and (c) during colony formation in vitro. Moreover

  we demonstrate that blocking Wnt signaling in conditions where neural stem cells are dividing symmetrically inhibits neural stem cell expansion both in vivo and in vitro. Together

  these findings reveal that the mechanism by which Wnt signaling modulates the size of the stem cell pool is by regulating the symmetry of stem cell division.

  Wnt signaling regulates symmetry of division of neural stem cells in the adult brain and in response to injury