Assessing Gene Therapeutic Microtubule Stabilization for Axon Restoration in the Injured Adult Spinal Cord (B07)

• Subject Area: Molecular Biology and Physiology of Neurons and Glial Cells ; Experimental Models for the Understanding of Nervous System Diseases ; Molecular and Cellular Neurology and Neuropathology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 528760423

After injury in the central nervous system, axons fail to regenerate due to neuron-intrinsic and neuron-extrinsic processes. Pharmacological microtubule stabilization induces axon regeneration of motor and sensory pathways by reactivating axon growth competence and inhibiting fibrotic scarring leading to functional recovery after a spinal cord injury. To decipher their contribution, we will stabilize microtubules through a gene-therapy approach knocking out and down tubulin-tyrosine ligase in neurons and scar-forming cells in spinal cord injured mice and assess anatomical regrowth of axons, changes of the scarring and functional recovery.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1690: Disease Mechanisms and Functional Restoration of Sensory and Motor Systems
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Frank Bradke