
Allison D. Ebert, PhD
Associate Professor; Director, Neuroscience Doctoral Program
Locations
- Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy
Contact Information
Education
BS, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 1999
Research Interests
Therapeutic uses of stem cells and disease modeling for spinal muscular atrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and muscular dystrophy
My research interests are in the area of neurodegenerative diseases, both understanding the molecular basis for the disease progression and finding effective experimental therapies. My current research focuses on using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from patient tissue to understand disease mechanisms and therapeutic intervention. One project in my lab is investigating the cell death processes involved in motor neuron loss in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). We are using iPSCs derived from SMA patients to generate motor neurons and astrocytes to determine how the motor neurons are. My lab has found that astrocytes are dysfunctional in SMA, so we are investigating the mechanisms by which they contribute to disease pathology including alterations in secreted proteins and microRNAs. My lab also uses gene therapy and cell transplantation as potential therapeutic strategies for SMA. The second project is investigating the mechanisms underlying motor neuron loss in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We are using patient-specific iPSCs to assess protein aggregation in common and rare genetic forms of ALS. We incorporate gene editing techniques to create specific iPSCs for differentiation into motor neurons, astrocytes, and skeletal muscle. The third project is evaluating the effect of the G2019S LRRK2 mutation on mitochondrial trafficking and cytoskeletal structure in iPSC-derived dopamine neurons and sensory neurons. We have found the same mutation induces different consequences depending on the cell type being examined, so we are now using live cell imaging to determine mitochondrial and vesicular motility in an effort to correlate neuron-specific defects to disease phenotypes. Finally, we are examining the secretome and microRNA profile of dystrophin deficient iPSC-derived myocytes to identify novel therapeutic targets to treat muscular dystrophy.
Publications
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(Welby E, Rehborg RJ, Harmelink M, Ebert AD.) Hum Mol Genet. 2022 Jun 04;31(11):1830-1843 PMID: 34919695 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85123796645 12/18/2021
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(Allison RL, Welby E, Khayrullina G, Burnett BG, Ebert AD.) Glia. 2022 05;70(5):989-1004 PMID: 35088910 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85123783848 01/29/2022
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(O'Brien BS, Mokry RL, Schumacher ML, Pulakanti K, Rao S, Terhune SS, Ebert AD.) iScience. 2022 Apr 15;25(4):104098 PMID: 35391828 PMCID: PMC8980761 04/09/2022
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Microglia Influence Neurofilament Deposition in ALS iPSC-Derived Motor Neurons.
(Allison RL, Adelman JW, Abrudan J, Urrutia RA, Zimmermann MT, Mathison AJ, Ebert AD.) Genes (Basel). 2022 01 27;13(2) PMID: 35205286 PMCID: PMC8871895 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85124092767 02/26/2022
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Detection of Soluble and Insoluble Protein Species in Patient-Derived iPSCs.
(Santarriaga S, Luecke I, Ebert AD.) Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2429:73-84 PMID: 35507156 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85124109057 05/05/2022
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(O'Brien BS, Mokry RL, Schumacher ML, Pulakanti K, Rao S, Terhune SS, Ebert AD.) iScience. 15 April 2022;25(4) SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85127531399 04/15/2022
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Microglia Influence Neurofilament Deposition in ALS iPSC-Derived Motor Neurons
(Allison RL, Adelman JW, Abrudan J, Urrutia RA, Zimmermann MT, Mathison AJ, Ebert AD.) Genes. February 2022;13(2) SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85124092767 02/01/2022
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(Luecke IW, Lin G, Santarriaga S, Scaglione KM, Ebert AD.) Gene Ther. 2021 Jul 08 PMID: 34239068 PMCID: PMC8741877 07/10/2021
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(Renthal W, Chamessian A, Curatolo M, Davidson S, Burton M, Dib-Hajj S, Dougherty PM, Ebert AD, Gereau RW 4th, Ghetti A, Gold MS, Hoben G, Menichella DM, Mercier P, Ray WZ, Salvemini D, Seal RP, Waxman S, Woolf CJ, Stucky CL, Price TJ.) Neuron. 2021 05 05;109(9):1426-1429 PMID: 33957072 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85105020162 05/07/2021
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(Luecke IW, Lin G, Santarriaga S, Scaglione KM, Ebert AD.) Gene Therapy. 2021 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85109959996 01/01/2021
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Induced pluripotent stem cells for modeling of spinal muscular atrophy
(Welby E, Ebert AD.) iPSCs for Modeling Central Nervous System Disorders, Volume 6. 1 January 2021:147-170 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85128048942 01/01/2021
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(Seminary ER, Santarriaga S, Wheeler L, Mejaki M, Abrudan J, Demos W, Zimmermann MT, Urrutia RA, Fee D, Barkhaus PE, Ebert AD.) Cells. 2020 02 28;9(3) PMID: 32121108 PMCID: PMC7140469 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85092221701 03/04/2020
Ebert Lab
Lab alumni
Jered McGivern, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Lakeland College, Sheboygan, WI
Teresa Patitucci, PhD, Assistant Professor in Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin
Andrew Schwab, PhD, Study Director at Metabolon, Inc, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
Emily Seminary, PhD, Associate Medical Writing Document Manager, Astellas Pharma US, Chicago, IL