Steven Schwulst, MD
Associate Professor, Surgery (Trauma and Critical Care)
Research Program
Cancer-Focused Research
Preliminary work has generated head-shielded bone marrow chimeric mice allowing for the unambiguous differentiation between infiltrating monocytes and microglia after TBI. Using this model, we have shown that non-classical monocytes are essential for neutrophil recruitment into the injured brain after TBI and that their targeted depletion results in improved functional and anatomic outcomes after injury. Furthermore, this model has allowed for the sorting of isolated populations of microglia after TBI. Transcriptional profiling of these microglia has implicated longitudinal changes in microglial gene expression in the development of long-term neurodegenerative changes. This work is applicable to tumor microenvironment, the Alzheimer's spectrum of diseases, as well as neuropsychiatric disorders.