Julie Desbarats, Faculty Member

Department of Physiology McGill University McIntyre Medical Sciences Building, Room 1234 3655 Promenade Sir William Osler Montréal, Québec H3G 1Y6 (514) 398-5126 julie.desbaratsmcgill.ca Laboratory web site: www.physio.mcgill.ca/desbaratslab/

Research Area:  Neuroimmunology

Research Description:

Research in my lab focuses on nerve regeneration after trauma, and on neurodegenerative diseases (such as Parkinson’s Disease). Our work centers on the role of the immune system in regeneration of injured peripheral nerves and neurons in the central nervous system (CNS). Our experiments are directed at manipulating the immune system at the molecular and cellular level, to induce new mechanisms of nerve regeneration, with the eventual goal of reversing degenerative processes in the brain. We study signal transduction pathways and new gene expression involved in neural regeneration, as well as cellular physiology in tissue culture, and in vivo surgical and behavioural models in mice.

Education:  Ph.D., McGill

Recent Publications:

J. Desbarats, R.B. Birge, M. Rongy-Mimouni, D.E. Weinstein, J.-S. Palerme, and M.K. Newell.  Fas engagement induces neurite growth via ERK activation and p35 upregulation.  Nature Cell Biol., 5: 118-125, 2003. R.B. Birge, S. Wadsworth, J. Desbarats, H. Abeysinghe, S. Sundarababu, A. August, J. Siekierka, and D.E. Weinstein. Schwann cells mediate the neuritogenic effects of the non-immunosupressive immunophilin ligands. Submitted, 2001. J. Desbarats and M.K. Newell. Fas engagement accelerates liver regeneration following partial hepatectomy. Nature Med. 6: 920-923, 2000. J. Desbarats, T. Wade, W.F. Wade, and M.K. Newell. Dichotomy between naive and memory CD4+ T cell responses to Fas (CD95) engagement. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 8104-8109, 1999. M.K. Newell and J. Desbarats. Fas Ligand: Receptor or Ligand? Apoptosis 4: 311-315, 1999. M.K. Newell, M.-E. Harper, K. Fortner, J. Desbarats, A. Russo, and S.A. Huber. Does the oxidative / glycolytic ratio determine proliferation or death in immune recognition? Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 887: 77-82, 1999. J. Desbarats, R.C. Duke, and M.K. Newell. Newly discovered role for Fas Ligand in the cell-cycle arrest of CD4+ T cells. Nature Med. 4: 1377-1382, 1998.

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