Faculty

Richard Milner 
Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine
TSRI - 2004

Education 
1990 - B.Sc. in Physiology, First Class Honors, Leeds University, United Kingdom
1994 - Ph.D. in Developmental Neurobiology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
1998 - M.D. (M.B., B.Chir), University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
1994 -1996 Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
1996 -1998 Clinical Medical Student, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
1999 - Research Associate, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
2000 -2002 Research Associate, Department of Neuropharmacology, TSRI
2002-2003 Senior Research Associate, Departments of Neuropharmacology and Molecular and Experimental Medicine, TSRI.
2003-2004 Wellcome Trust Research Fellow, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, UK.
2004 - Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow, University of Cambridge, UK.
2004-2006 Senior Research Associate, Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, TSRI.

Awards & Activities 
2004 - Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship (University of Cambridge)
2006 - Harry Weaver Neuroscience Scholar Award from The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (one of only two awarded nationwide in 2006)

Research Focus 
Regulation of Cerebral Angiogenesis by the Extracellular Matrix

The goal of our research is to understand how extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins regulate blood vessel growth in the central nervous system (CNS). During development, endothelial cells switch from an angiogenic phenotype into a stable differentiated phenotype, and this coincides with a switch in expression, from fibronectin receptors during angiogenesis, to laminin receptors in the adult. In vitro studies reveal that fibronectin strongly promotes brain endothelial cell survival and proliferation, and that this effect is mediated via the fibronectin receptors, α₅β₁ and α_vβ₃ integrins. To examine whether angiogenesis in the adult CNS is also associated with induction of fibronectin and its receptors we examined this process in a mouse model of hypoxia. In the hypoxic CNS, fibronectin and the α₅β₁ integrin were strongly upregulated on angiogenic vessels, suggesting that the α₅β₁ integrin may be important in driving angiogenesis in the adult CNS. Currently we are using knockout mice and a combination of in vivo and in vitro approaches to define the roles of the α₅β₁ and α_vβ₃ integrins at specific stages of cerebral angiogenesis.

Selected References 
Milner, R., Crocker S.J., Hung, S., Wang, X., Frausto, R.F. & del Zoppo G.J. (2007) Fibronectin and vitronectin induced microglial activation and matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression is mediated by integrins α₅β₁ and α₅β₁. J. Immunol. 178, 8158-8167.

Milner, R., Hung, S., Wang, X., Berg, G. & del Zoppo, G.J. (2008). Responses of endothelial cell and astrocyte matrix-integrin receptors to ischemia mimic those observed in the neurovascular unit. Stroke. 39, 191-7.

Milner, R., Hung, S., Wang, X., Spatz, M. & del Zoppo, G.J. (2008). The rapid decrease in astrocyte-associated dystroglycan expression by focal cerebral ischemia is protease-dependent. J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metab. 28, 812-23.

Milner, R., Hung, S., Erokwu, B., Dore-Duffy, P., LaManna, J.C., & del Zoppo, G.J. (2008). Increased expression of fibronectin and the α₅β₁ integrin in angiogenic cerebral blood vessels of mice subject to hypobaric hypoxia. Mol. Cell. Neurosci. 38, 43-52.