Asa Abeliovich, M.D., Ph. D.

Associate Professor

Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons
aa900@columbia.edu

Professor Abeliovich's lab is studying aspects of dopamine neuron development, function, and survival. This lab uses a simple, in vitro clonal cell culture model system: embryonic stem (ES) cell differentiation. ES cells can mature in vitro through roughly the same series of developmental events as the more complex in vivo process. They are probing molecular regulatory events, ultimately with an intererest in replacement therapies for Parkinson's disease. In a second line of inquiry, Abeliovich is studying dopamine neuron survival in the context of rare genetic mutations that have been linked to familial forms of Parkinsonism.

Select Publications

MacLeod, D., Dowman, J., Hammond, R., Leete, T., Inoue, K., and Abeliovich, A. The familial Parkinsonism gene LRRK2 regulates neurite process morphology. Neuron 52 (2006)., 587-593.

Martinat, C., Bacci, J.J., Leete, T., Kim, J., Vanti, W.B. Newman, A.H., Ccha, J.H., Gether, U.,Wang, H. Abeliovich, A. (2006) Cooperative transcription activation by Nurr1 and Pitx3 induces embryonic stem cell maturation to the midbrain dopamine neuron phenotype. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103, 2874-2879.