Scientific Report 2008

Scripps Florida

Translational Research Institute

Department Overview

Staff

Patrick Griffin, Ph.D.*
Director

Thomas D. Bannister, Ph.D.
Associate Scientific Director, Medicinal Chemistry

Jennifer Caldwell Busby, Ph.D.*
Associate Scientific Director, Proteomics

Michael Cameron, Ph.D.*
Associate Scientific Director, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics

Derek R. Duckett, Ph.D.
Associate Scientific Director, Discovery Biology

Yangbo Feng, Ph.D.
Associate Scientific Director, Medicinal Chemistry

Peter Hodder, Ph.D.
Scientific Director, Lead Identification

Ted Kamenecka, Ph.D.
Associate Scientific Director, Medicinal Chemistry

Congxin Liang, Ph.D.
Scientific Director, Medicinal Chemistry

Philip LoGrasso, Ph.D.*
Senior Director, Discovery Biology

Patricia McDonald, Ph.D.
Associate Scientific Director, Discovery Biology

Becky Mercer, Ph.D.
Associate Scientific Project Manager, Lead Identification

Mathew T. Pletcher, Ph.D.**
Assistant Professor, RNA Core

William Roush, Ph.D.**
Executive Director, Medicinal Chemistry
Associate Dean, Kellogg School of Science and Technology

Senior Scientists

Yenting Chen, Ph.D.

Rong Jiang, Ph.D.

Marcel Koenig, Ph.D.

Jiuxiang Ni, Ph.D.

Alok Pachori, Ph.D.

Louis Scampavia, Ph.D.

Thomas Schröter, Ph.D.

Youseung Shin, Ph.D.

Tomas Vojkovsky, Ph.D.

Staff Scientists

Lisa Cherry, Ph.D.

Juliana Conkright, Ph.D.

Dympna Harmey, Ph.D.

Sahba Tabrizifard, Ph.D.

Senior Research Associate

Franck Madoux, Ph.D.

Research Associates

Sarwat Chowdhury, Ph.D.

Melissa Crisp, Ph.D.

Brian Ember, Ph.D.

Xingang Fang, Ph.D.

Yuanjun He, Ph.D.

Xiaohai Li, Ph.D.Romain Noel, Ph.D.

Sanjay Saldanha, Ph.D.

E. Hamp Sessions, Ph.D.

Anthony Smith, Ph.D.

Xinyi Song, Ph.D.

Prem Subramaniam, Ph.D.

Dusica Vidovic, Ph.D.

Kristen Clarke Ware, Ph.D.

Yan Yin, Ph.D.

Scientific Associates

Dmitriy Minond

Timothy Spicer

HTS Robotics Engineers

Pierre Baillargeon

Peter Chase

Lina Deluca

Informatics Staff

Caty Chung

Yasel Cruz

Kashif Hoda

Bruce Pascal

Stephan Schuerer

Mark Southern

* Joint appointment in the Department of Molecular Therapeutics

** Joint appointment in the Department of Chemistry

Neuronal differentiation is essential for the formation of the mammalian nervous system. Activation of the Rho Kinase (ROCK) pathway by lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) causes neurite retraction. In order to examine the effect of ROCK inhibitors on the prevention of LPA-induced neurite retraction, PC12 cells were allowed to differentiate for 4 days in the presence of nerve growth factor before treatment with ROCK inhibitors and then stimulation with LPA. Cells were fixed and stained for α-tubulin, and nuclei were visualized by using Hoechst 33342 dye. Cells were imaged in a 96-well format with the IN Cell 1000 platform. Images were analyzed for neurite length (red) and cell count (green) by using the Developer Toolbox. Work done in
the laboratory of Thomas Schröter, Ph.D., senior scientist.

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