Carl Cotman , Director of the UCI Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia. The Institute for Brain Aging specializes in the study of neuronal injury and repair in brain disorders. Cotman's research program seeks to identify the early events associated with nerve cell degeneration in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's Disease. This neurodegeneration is thought to involve some of the same reactive cellular responses that occur after spinal cord injury, especially responses involved in tissue inflammation. Gall's laboratory studies the growth of nerve cell connections in mature animals, focusing especially on the signals that up-regulate the expression of neurotrophic factors.
Neurotrophic factors have the ability to stimulate nerve growth and regeneration.
By identifying signals that regulate the expression of these molecules, it may be possible to develop new ways to promote nerve regeneration in the injured spinal cord. Lander's laboratory studies the molecules that control the growth of nerve cell connections during early development and the molecules that inhibit regeneration following injury. His research program takes advantage of transgenic technology in mice that allows the insertion of new genes or the deletion of existing genes. Vernon Lin , Director of UCI's Spinal Cord Injury Service, based at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Long Beach. Lin specializes in the treatment of patients with paralysis and spinal cord injuries.