Jack M. Parent, M.D., is an associate professor of neurology, director of the Neurodevelopment and Regeneration Laboratory, and co-director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in the University of Michigan Medical School.

His current research interests include neural stem cell transplantation to treat brain injury and neurodegeneration, and the modification of adult neural stem cells to promote brain repair after stroke or prevent epilepsy.

Dr. Parent earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, with distinction, in human biology from Stanford University and his medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine. He completed a medical internship and neurology residency at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he was selected chief resident. He stayed at UCSF for clinical fellowship training in epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology, and postdoctoral training in neuroscience research.

An internationally recognized research leader in the fields of neural stem cell biology, regeneration after brain injury and epilepsy, Dr. Parent established the Neurodevelopment and Regeneration Laboratory at the U-M in 2000.

Dr. Parent is a member of the Epilepsy Foundation of America Research Council, the Medical Advisory Board of the Global Ischemia Foundation, the Independent Science Review Panel of the New Jersey Commission on Brain Injury Research, and the National Scientific Advisory Council of the American Federation for Aging Research. He also serves as an associate editor of Neuroscience Letters, and is on the editorial boards of Experimental Neurology and Epilepsy Currents.

He has received several awards for his research, including a Junior Investigator Award from the American Epilepsy Society, a Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholars in Aging Award, a Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Award from the American Academy of Neurology, and a Grass Foundation Award in Neuroscience from the American Neurological Association.

• Professor in Residence of Neurological Surgery
• William K. Bowes Jr. Endowed Chair in Neuroscience Research
• Faculty Member, PIBS Graduate Program in Neuroscience
• Faculty Member, Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program 
• Faculty Member, Eli & Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research

Dr. Baraban’s laboratory has active research projects on epilepsy associated with a malformed brain; epilepsy and drug discovery in pediatric models of epilepsy in zebrafish; and development of cell based epilepsy therapy using inhibitory neural progenitor cells.

Education, Training, and Previous Positions

1987: BA, Johns Hopkins University

1994: PhD, University of Virginia

1994-1997: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Washington, Department of Neurological Surgery

1996-1997: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Washington, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

1997-1999: Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Departments of Pediatrics (primary appointment) and Neuroscience (secondary appointment)

1999-Present: Department of Neurological Surgery, UCSF

Selected Professional Memberships and Appointments

Society for Neuroscience

American Epilepsy Society

Selected Honors and Awards

1995: American Epilepsy Society and Milken Family Foundation, Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

1998: Epilepsy Foundation of America, Junior Investigator Research Award

1999: March of Dimes Foundation, Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Award

2000: Sandler Family Supporting Foundation, UCSF Innovation in Basic Science Award

2001: Symposium Faculty, 21st Merritt-Putnam Symposium (Epilepsy and Disorders of Brain Development)

2003: Esther and Joseph Klingenstein Fund, Fellowship Award in Neuroscience

Selected Recent Publications

• Cobos I, Calcagnotto ME, Vilaythong AJ, Thwin MT, Noebels JL, Baraban SC, Rubenstein JL (2005) Mice lacking Dlx1 show subtype-specific loss of interneurons, reduced inhibition and epilepsy. Nature Neuroscience 8, 1059-1068.
• Calcagnotto ME, Paredes MF, Tihan T, Barbaro NM, Baraban SC (2005) Dysfunction of synaptic inhibition in epilepsy associated with focal cortical dysplasia. Journal of Neuroscience 25, 9649-9657.
• Alvarez-Dolado M, Calcagnotto ME, Karkar KM, Southwell DG, Jones-Davis DM, Estrada RC, Rubenstein JL, Alvarez-Buylla A, Baraban SC (2006) Cortical inhibition modified by embryonic neural precursors grafted into the postnatal brain. Journal of Neuroscience 26, 7380-7389.
• Greenwood JSF, Wang Y, Estrada RC, Ackerman L, Ohara PT, Baraban SC (2009) Seizures, enhanced excitation and increased vesicle number in Lis1 mutant mice. Annals of Neurology 66, 644-653.
• Baraban SC, Southwell DG, Estrada RC, Jones DL, Sebe JY, Verdugo-Garcia JMG, Rubenstein JLR, Alvarez-Buylla A (2009) Reduction of seizures by transplantation of cortical GABAergic precursors into Kv1.1 mutant mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 106, 15472-15477.
• Hortopan GA, Dinday MT, Baraban SC (2010) Spontaneous seizures and altered gene expression in GABA signaling pathways in a mind bomb mutant zebrafish. Journal of Neuroscience30, 13718-13728.

Jane Hsiao received her B.S., in Pharmacy from the National Taiwan University in 1969, and in 1973, she was awarded a Ph.D., in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Illinois.  In 1994, she obtained a M.B.A. from Nova Southeastern University.

Dr. Hsiao’s professional experience includes a variety of top-level executive positions in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries including that of President of Innotech Laboratories; Vice President of Baker Norton Pharmaceuticals, Chief Regulatory Officer and Vice Chairman of IVAX Corporation in Miami; and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IVX Animal Health (a subsidiary of IVAX Corporation).  Dr. Hsiao was also the co-founder of IVAX Corporation.  IVAX was sold to TEVA Pharmaceuticals in 2006 for an enterprise value of $9.9 billion.

Dr. Hsiao is Vice-Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of OPKO Health, Inc. Dr. Hsiao serves as Chairman of the Board of Safestitch Medical, Inc. (OTCBB: SFES) and Non-Invasive Monitoring Systems, Inc. (OTCBB: NIMU), both medical device companies. Dr. Hsiao is also a director of Prolor, Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company and Neovasc, Inc. (TSXV:NVC), a company developing and marketing medical specialty vascular devices.

Dr. Hsiao is also a founder of the Great Eastern Bank of Florida, based in Miami and serves on its Board of Directors.  Until her retirement from IVAX Corporation in 2006, Dr. Hsiao served on the Board of Directors for IVAX Corporation, IVAX Diagnostics, IVAX Pharmaceuticals s.r.o. in the Czech Republic, Kunming Baker Norton Pharmaceuticals in China, and Baker Cummins Dermatologicals, Inc.

She oversees a variety of humanitarian and charitable efforts administered through the Hsu Family Foundation; and is also involved in various business ventures that include real estate development projects and several innovative healthcare initiatives as a partner with The Frost Group based in Miami.

Dr. Isom received her PhD in Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1987. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. William A. Catterall at the University of Washington Department of Pharmacology in 1993 and was subsequently promoted to Lecturer in Pharmacology.

Dr. Isom’s postdoctoral research included the first cloning, sequencing, and expression of voltage-gated sodium channel SCN1B and SCN2B, encoding β1 and β2 subunits, respectively. Dr. Isom began her independent laboratory research program at the University of Michigan Department of Pharmacology in 1995 as an Assistant Professor. She was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2001 and then to full Professor in 2007. She received a secondary appointment as Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology in 2009 and was promoted to Assistant Dean for Graduate Education in 2010.

Dr. Isom’s research program focuses on voltage-gated sodium channel structure, function, and role in inherited disease. Her laboratory employs a variety of techniques, including cellular and molecular biology, genetics, and electrophysiology. Highlights of Dr. Isom’s research program at the University of Michigan include the discovery that sodium channel β subunits, in addition to functioning as ion channel modulators, are multifunctional cell adhesion molecules of the immunoglobulin superfamily that regulate neuronal migration, pathfinding, and fasciculation. She reported the first mutation in SCN1B linked to Dravet Syndrome in 2009 and is currently collaborating with Dr. Jack Parent and Dr. Miriam Meisler to investigate SCN1A and SCN1B Dravet Syndrome mutations in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) neurons and cardiac myocytes.

In addition to her research activities, Dr. Isom has served as the Director of the University of Michigan Program in Biomedical Sciences since 2008. She was recently promoted to Assistant Dean of Graduate Recruitment and Pre-candidate Education in the Medical School. Dr. Isom has served on a number of grant study sections and external review committees and is currently a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Dr. Koh is an Attending Physician in the Neurology and Epilepsy Center of Children’s Memorial Hospital, as well as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.  Her special interests include epilepsy; basic science research on the consequences of seizures on the developing brain; cognitive and neuropsychological effects of anticonvulsant medications; and refractory partial onset seizures.

Education

1998-01: Clinical and Research Fellowship in neurology, Children’s Hospital Boston

1993-96: Residency in pediatric neurology, New England Medical Center, Boston

1991-93: Residency in pediatrics, New England Medical Center

1991: University of Rochester

1989: Postdoctoral fellowship in neurobiology and anatomy, University of Rochester

Certifications

Neurology with special qualifications in Child Neurology

Neurology with special qualifications in Clinical Neurophysiology

Professional Organizations

American Epilepsy Society

Child Neurology Society

American Academy of Neurology

Society for Neuroscience

Dr Meisler’s laboratory is studying neurological disease mutations in genes encoding human voltage- gated sodium channels and phosphoinositide metabolism. To examine the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis, we generate mouse models of specific human mutations. We are screening patient populations to identify new disease mutations. In related projects, we are cloning several new mouse mutants, using genomic tools including human/mouse genomic sequence comparisons to identify noncoding regulatory sequences.

Education

1968: Ph. D. Ohio State University, Biological Chemistry

1963: B. A. Queens College, CUNY. B. A., Chemistry and Biology

Honors and Awards 

2005: Distinguished Biomedical Faculty Lectureship, University of Michigan

2001: AAAS Fellow

1997-99: President, International Mammalian Genetics Society

1995: Sarah Goddard Power Award, University of Michigan

1993: Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, University of Michigan

1975: Basil O Connor Scholar Award, March of Dimes

2011: Distinguished University Professor, University of Michigan

Selected Publications 

• Lenk GM, Ferguson CJ, Chow CY, Jin N, Jones JM, Grant AE, Zolov SN, Winters JJ, Giger RJ, Dowling JJ, Weisman LS and Meisler MH (2011) Rescue of neurodegeneration by transgenic expression of a pathogenic variant of FIG4 responsible for Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, PLOS Genetics, 7(6):e1002104162.
• Freilich ER, Jones JM*, Reyes C, Meisler MH* and Pearl PL (2011) Novel SCN1A mutation in a patient with Malignant Migrating Partial Seizures of Infancy, Arch. Neurol. 68:665-671.
• Nicholson G, Lenk GM, Reddel S, Grant AE, Towne CF, Ferguson CJ, Simpson E, Scheuerle A, Yasick M, Hoffman S, Blouin R, Brandt C, Coppola G, Biesecker LG for the NIH Intramural Sequencing Center, Batish SD and Meisler MH (2011) Distinctive genetic and clinical features of CMT4J, a severe neuropathy caused by mutations in the PI(3,5)P2 phosphatase FIG4. Brain 134: 1959-1971.
• Ferguson C., Lenk G, Meisler MH (2009) Defective autophagy in neurons and astrocytes from mice deficient in PI(3,5)P2 Human Molecular Genetics 18: 4868-4878.
• Sharkey LM, Xiaoyang Cheng, Valerie Drews, David A. Buchner, Julie M. Jones,Monica J. Justice, Stephen G. Waxman, Sulayman D. Dib-Hajj, and Miriam H. Meisler (2009). The ataxia3 Mutation in N-Terminal Cytoplasmic Domain of Sodium Channel Nav1.6 Disrupts Intracellular Trafficking. J. Neurosci.29:2733-2741.
• Chow CY, Landers JE, Bergren SK, Sapp PC, Grant AE, Jones JM, Everett L, Lenk GM, McKenna-Yasek DM, Weisman LS, Figlewicz D, Brown RH, and Meisler MH (2009) Deleterious variants of FIG4, a phosphoinositide phosphatase, in patients with ALS. Am. J. Hum.Genet. 84:85-88.
• Jin N, Chow CY, Liu L, Zolov SN, Bronson R, Davisson M, Petersen JL, Zhang Y, Park S, Duex JE, Goldowitz D, Meisler MH* and Weisman LS* (2008) VAC14 nucleates a protein complex that is essential for the regulation of PI(3,5)P2 levels in yeast and mouse. EMBO J. 27:3221-34. (*co-senior authors).
• Drews VL, Shi K, de Haan G and Meisler MH (2007) Identification of evolutionarily conserved, functional noncoding elements in the promoter region of the sodium channel gene SCN8A. Mammalian Genome 18:723-31.
• Howell VM, Jones JM, Bergren S, Li L, Billi AC, Avenarius MR and Meisler MH (2007) Evidence for a direct role of the disease modifier SCNM1 in splicing. Human Molecular Genetics 16:2506-2516.
• Chow CY, ZhangY, Dowling J, Jin N, Adamska M, Shiga K, Szigeta K, Shy M, Li J, Zhang X, Lupski JR, Weisman L, Meisler MH (2007) Mutation of FIG4 causes neurodegeneration in the pale tremor mouse and patients with CMT type 4G. Nature 448:68-72.
• Kearney JA, Wiste AK, Stephani U, Trudeau MM, Siegel A, RamachandranNair R, Elterman RD, Muhle H, Reinsdorf J, Shields WD, Meisler MH, Escayg A. (2006) Recurrent de novo mutations of SCN1A in severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy. Pediatric Neurol. 34:116-120.
• Levin SI, Aman TK, Khaliq ZM, Grieco TM, Woodruff-Pak DS, Raman IM and Meisler MH. (2006) Impaired motor function and learning in mice with conditional knockout of the Na channel Scn8a (NaV1.6) in cerebellar Purkinje neurons and granule cells. J. Neurophysiology 96:785-93. Epub 2006 May 10.
• Trudeau MM, Dalton JC, Day JW, Ranum LP, Meisler MH. (2006) Heterozygosity for a protein truncation mutation of sodium channel SCN8A in a patient with cerebellar atrophy, ataxia and mental retardation. J Med Genet. 43:527-30. Epub 2005 Oct 19.
• Schmitt-JohnT, Drepper C, Mumann A, Hahn P, Kuhlmann M, Thiel C, Hafner M, Lengeling A, Heimann P, Jones JM, Meisler MH, Jockusch H (2005) Mutation of Vps54 causes motor neuron disease and defective spermiogenesis in the wobbler mouse. Nature Genetics 37:1213-1215.

Dr. Hughes is a Consultant Paediatric Neurologist in the Paediatric Neurosciences Dept. of Kings College Hospital and in the Paediatric Neurology Dept. of Evelina Children’s Hospital in London.

Dr. Laux is an Attending Physician in the Neurology and Epilepsy Center of Children’s Memorial Hospital, as well as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.  Her special interests include pediatric epilepsy and Dravet syndrome.

Education

2001: Fellowship in pediatric epilepsy, Children’s Memorial Hospital

1994-97: Fellowship in neurology/child neurology, Barrow’s Neurologic Institute/St. Joseph’s Hospital, Phoenix, AZ,

1990-93: Residency in pediatrics, University of Arizona Health Science Center

1990: St. Louis University

Certifications

Board certified in Neurology with special qualifications in Child Neurology

Neurology with special qualifications in Clinical Neurophysiology

Professional Organizations

American Epilepsy Society

American Clinical Neurophysiology Society

Child Neurology Society