Jayshree Samanta

The Samanta lab focuses on how neural stem cells generate myelin in the brain during recovery from a demyelinating insult i.e. remyelination. Our primary goal is to understand the disease process and identify factors that can help neural stem cells repair the myelin abnormalities observed in several neurological diseases including Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and Schizophrenia.

The myelin sheath is a specialized membrane synthesized by oligodendrocytes, which wraps around the axons of neurons in the vertebrate brain. In demyelinating diseases, disruption of myelin results in severe neurological defects due to conduction block ultimately leading to the loss of axons. The goal in neurological diseases with myelin loss is to ensheath the axons that have lost their myelin, before the neurons degenerate. Our objective is to understand the molecular underpinnings of signaling pathways important in proliferation, migration and differentiation of neural stem cells and transform this knowledge for developing therapeutic strategies of remyelination.