Dr Shane Liddelow is an assistant professor in the Neuroscience Institute at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, with appointments in the Departments of Neuroscience & Physiology and Ophthalmology. In 2021 he was appointed as co-Director of the Parekh Center for Interdisciplinary Neurology and Grossman School of Medicine. His lab researches mechanisms that induce different forms of reactive astrocytes, and investigates how they interact with other cells in the central nervous system in a positive or negative way. He believes that the discovery of astrocytes with different reactive states has important implications for the development of new therapies for brain injury and diseases.

Liddelow Lab, What we do:

'Astrocytes are the most abundant cells in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). They are integral to brain and spinal-cord physiology and perform many functions important for normal neuronal development, synapse formation, and proper propagation of action potentials. We still know very little, however, about how these functions change in response to immune attack, chronic neurodegenerative disease, or acute trauma. Our work focuses on the mechanisms that induce different forms of reactive astrocytes, and how these reactive cells interact with other cells in the CNS in a positive or negative way. We aim to apply this knowledge to reactive astrocytes in human disease, and believe that the discovery of astrocytes with different reactive states has important implications for the development of new therapies for CNS injury and diseases. Ultimately, we aim to provide a more comprehensive understanding of what astrocytes do in disease and how we might ameliorate disease by targeting astrocytes.'