Stephen G. Waxman
Professor of Neurology
Joined Yale in 1986

Education:

1967	A.B. Harvard College
1970	Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine
1971	M.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Research Interests:
Research in my laboratory focuses on the general theme of functional recovery after injury to the brain and spinal cord. A major effort is currently underway to understand the ways in which spinal neurons build their excitable membranes, and to study the changes that occur in these membranes in response to various injuries. We utilize patch clamp, molecular biological, pharmacological, and biophysical techniques together with computer simulations. We have cloned a primary sensory neuron-specific sodium channel NaN, and have demonstrated that it produces a TTX resistant persistent sodium current. Since NaN channels are selectively deployed in nociceptive neurons, NaN represents an important molecular target in pain research. We have also demonstrated that there are state-dependant changes in sodium channel expression, both in normal neurons, and following injury to neurons (for example, following axonal transection and demyelination). We are, in addition, interested in calcium-mediated injury within white matter tracts, and are developing neuroprotective strategies that should be useful in spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, and related diseases.

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