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PERIPHERAL NERVE RESEARCH LAB/ZOCHODNE LAB OVERVIEW

The problem we work on:     Peripheral nerves are the essential connections from the brain and spinal cord to the body. Without peripheral nerves there is no movement and no sensation. Peripheral nerve damage is common and debilitating leading to paralysis, loss of sensation (including protective sensation) and neuropathic pain. Despite assumptions and statements to the contrary, peripheral nerve regeneration is highly limited. For example, a person sustaining a severe complete axonal injury to the brachial plexus (peripheral nerve supply to the hand and arm) in the shoulder is unlikely to ever regain hand sensation and strength (even in 2008) despite high quality surgical, medical and rehabilitative care.  Peripheral nerves regrow very slowly;  best rates are 1-2 mm/day or an inch per month. After a peripheral nerve transection only 10% of the original axons may ever reconnect to their targets.

“Neuropathies” refer to damage involving peripheral nerves. Traumatic injury to peripheral nerves, or traumatic neuropathies, are very common and may exceed spinal cord injuries by a factor of ten or more. Up to 50% of all diabetics develop a complication of their peripheral nerve known as diabetic polyneuropathy.

Our laboratory:   The Zochodne lab was established initially at Queen’s University, Kingston Ontario Canada in 1988 then moved to the University of Calgary in 1992 where it has remained and grown since. Currently the lab is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (three major grants), the Canadian Diabetes Association and Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. The lab has collaborative funding with Dr. David Cramb, Department of Chemistry (NSERC group grant), and Paediatrics and Ophthalmology (JDRFI group grant), Alberta Children’s Hospital, University of Calgary. The lab collaborates with groups at the University of Alberta (NIH grant with Dr. C.Power), Saskatchewan, Western Ontario and others. The lab is a member of the Regeneration Node of the Hotchkiss Brain Institutes and operates with and closely adjacent to other Regeneration labs:  Drs. Cory Toth, Minh Dang Nguyen, V. Wee Yong,  Peter Stys, van Minnen,  Naweed Syed,  Rajiv Mida among others.

 Our research:  The laboratory works on the neurobiology of peripheral nerves with major themes addressing nerve regeneration and experimental diabetic neuropathy. See the self-propelled power point schemes for a depiction of the events in nerve regrowth and diabetic neuropathy. We test molecules (e.g RhoA inhibitors, growth factors, nitric oxide) and novel approaches (e.g. EAI, our electronic axonal interface project) that influence regenerative success and the development of neuropathic pain. We evaluate mechanisms of and interventions for the arrest and reversal of experimental diabetic neuropathy.

Our team:  We have an outstanding and collegial team of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, research associates and technicians that address peripheral neurobiology (in alphabetical order):
Postdoctoral Fellows:  Dr. Lawrence Korngut, Dr. Christine Webber
Graduate Students:  Bhagat Singh MSc, Kim Vanneste MSc,
Technicians and Lab Associates:  Dr. Chu Cheng, GuiFang Guo, Jose Martinez MSc
Local collaborators:  Toth lab, Nguyen lab, Syed lab, van Minnen lab, Stys lab, Midha lab, Yong lab