MAILMAN RESEARCH CENTER
Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory
The Molecular Neurobiology Lab Staff |
How neurons acquire and maintain neurotransmitter specificity is a fundamental issue because it critically influences the formation of the neural circuitry and the etiology of associated brain diseases.
Catecholamine (CA) neurons are an ideal system to study this issue because the hierarchical expression of biosynthetic enzyme genes determines the subspecificity of neurotransmitter phenotypes, i.e., dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and adrenergic neurons. We are investigating molecular mechanisms underlying CA-specific gene regulation and their phenotype specification. These studies have not only led us to molecular understanding of CA-specific gene expression, but also to development of novel gene delivery systems that can target transgene expression in a CA neuron-specific manner.
Improper regulation of the CA neurotransmitters has been implicated in several major psychiatric and neurological disorders such as schizophrenia, affective disorders, and Parkinson's disease. We have recently identified several novel mutations that affect the metabolism of CA neurotransmitter. We are further investigating whether these mutations are associated with psychiatric disorders. In addition, we are exploring to genetically modify the mouse embryonic stem cells to develop them as a potential cell source for transplantation therapy of Parkinson's disease.
Personnel
- Kwang-Soo Kim, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience & Director, Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory
- Dong-Youn Hwang, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor
- Chun-Hyung Kim, Ph.D. - Instructor
- Seok Jong (Jay) Hong, Ph.D. - Instructor
- Deog Joong (Doug) Kim, Ph.D. - Instructor
- Sung-Woo Kim, Ph.D. - Instructor and Assistant Molecular Biologist
- Young-Buhm Huh, M.D., Ph.D. - Visiting Associate Professor
- Sangmi Chung, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
- Joo-Won Jeong, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
- Sunghoi Hong, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
- Sung-Chul Ho, B.Sc. - Research Fellow
- Han-Soo Kim, M.S. - Research Fellow
- Byoung-Soo Shin, M.D., Ph.D. - Research Fellow
- Paul Ardayfio, B.Sc. - Graduate Student
- Amanda Leung, B.A. - Technical Assistant
- "Lauren" Hsing-Chen Tsai, M.S. - Associate in Psychiatry
- Eva Hedlund, Ph.D. - Post-Doctoral Researcher
- Pierre Leblanc, Ph.D. - Consultant
- Cynthia Webster - Administrative Assistant (e-mail)
Representative Publications
- Kim HS, Seo H, Brunet JF, Kim KS (1998) Noradrenergic-specific transcription of the dopamine beta-hydroxylase gene requires synergy of multiple cis-regulatory elements including at least two Phox2a-binding sites. J Neuroscience 18:8247-8260.
- Kim CH. Kim HS, Cubells J, Kim KS (1999) A previously undescribed intron and extensive 5' upstream sequence, but not Phox2a-mediated transactivation, are necessary for high level cell type-specific expression of the human norepinephrine transporter gene. J Biol Chem 274:6507-6518.
- Kim CH, Ardayfio P, and Kim KS (2001) An E-box motif residing in the exon/intron 1 junction regulates both transcriptional activation and splicing of the human norepinephrine transporter gene. J. Biol. Chem. 276:24797-805.
- Hwang D, Carlezon W, Isacson O, and Kim KS (2001) A high-efficiency synthetic promoter that drives transgene expression selectively in noradrenergic neurons. Human Gene Ther. 12:1731-40.

