Scarlet Speakers from the Heart of New Brunswick: Deconstructing Schizophrenia: From Cells to Man
Dr. Bonnie Firestein, Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers
Dr. Bonnie Firestein is Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience in the School of Arts and Sciences. She is also Director of the Graduate Program in Cell and Developmental Biology and a member of the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey and Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Bonnie’s work offers an exceptional insight and radically improves our understanding of basic mechanisms that 1) repair the brain post-injury and 2) treat patients post-spinal cord injury. Very little is known about how nervous system metabolism changes after traumatic injury. Bonnie’s work demonstrates, for the first time, that purine metabolism is linked to post-injury recovery and molecular re-wiring of the brain. Her results are a paradigm shift: purine metabolism regulates survival, morphology, and functional recovery post-injury.
