Cristian L. Achim, Assistant Professor
Director, Postdoctoral Training Program
MD, Faculty of General Medicine, Bucharest, Romania, 1985
Ph.D. Univ. of California, San Diego, 1993
Email: crisachim@earthlink.net
My lab is studying mechanisms of chronic brain degeneration and potential therapeutic interventions to promote regeneration. In particular we are interested in the pathogenesis of neurologic damage in AIDS dementia, the role played by microglia and the neurotrophic factors produced by brain macrophages. We are using in vitro and in vivo models based on primary neuroglial cultures xenografted into SCID animals. We have an in vivo model of human blood brain barrier used to study immune and cancer cell trafficking. Currently, we study the effects of neurotrophic factors on the developing human fetal neurons and their potential for cell transplantation in diseases like Parkinson's disease. We have also developed a transgenic model of hepa-tocyte growth factor expression in the brain. Techniques routinely used in my lab are tissue culture of human macrophages and neuroglia, immunofluo-rescent laser confocal microscopy, RT-PCR and stereotaxic intra-cerebral grafting.
Recent Publication
Kondziolka D, Wechsler L, Achim CL. Neural transplantation for stroke. 2002. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience 9: 225-230
Jordan-Sciutto KL, Dorsey R, Chalovic, EM, Hammond RR, Achim CL. Expression patterns of retinoblastoma protein in Parkinson's disease. 2003. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 62: 68-74.
Avramut, M. and Achim, C.L. Immunophilins: new indicators of degeneration and regeneration in the nervous system (Current Trends in Molecular Medicine, in press)
