2015 Grant Recipient – Robert Hunt

CHD2 model for LGS

Dr. Robert Hunt, PhD

University of California Irvine

Results: Pending

Lay Abstract:

I have been an active member of the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology at UC Irvine since joining the faculty in 2015. My lab focuses on conditions of brain development and injury where a treatment does not yet exist. We are creating new models of complex neurological disorders, developing cellular and molecular tools that enable precise manipulation or repair of the brain and recording high-speed dynamics of specialized neurons derived from human stem cells. Our philosophy is to embrace a broad view of neuroscience as we integrate a constellation of molecular, cellular, developmental, electrophysiological and systems-level methods in our work. Ultimately, we hope to discover precisely how the nervous system is changed in neurodevelopmental disorders or by traumatic brain injury, and to use this information to create new therapies.Our research has been funded by NIH, NSF and private sources, including a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Here at UCI, the lab also participates actively in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Epilepsy Research Center, Center for Autism Research and Translation, Stem Cell Research Center and the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.