kennedy lab

Doing this, the lab utilizes biochemical and molecular biological approaches, confocal and super-resolution microscopy methods, electrophysiology, primary neuronal cell cultures, mouse transgenesis, and animal models of neural injury and disease.

The Kennedy lab at the Montreal Neurological Institute investigates the molecular mechanisms that regulate cell motility and the formation of specialized cell-cell adhesions in the mammalian central nervous system. These include studies to identify mechanisms regulating axon extension, cell migration and synaptogenesis during development, and myelination, axon regeneration and synaptic plasticity in the mature central nervous system. During development, neurons must often extend an axon great distances to make appropriate connections with their appropriate neuronal targets. We are studying the proteins that direct and regulate neuronal process extension in the embryo. Of particular interest to us, many of the proteins that regulate neural development continue to be produced in the adult nervous system. We are investigating how these contribute to the function of the adult nervous system; in particular, how they may regulate the synaptic connections between nerve cells (synaptic plasticity), promote the maintenance and plasticity of myelin, and influence neuronal regeneration following injury. 

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