Eric C Olson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Neuroscience and Physiology

3295 Weiskotten Hall
Upstate Medical University
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, NY 13210

Research Program and Department Affiliations

Biomedical Sciences Program
Neuroscience Program
Neuroscience and Physiology
Physiology Program

Research Interests

Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortex development.

During normal brain development cortical neurons are produced by cell division in an area near the middle of the brain and then migrate long distances through the different environments of the fetal brain to their appropriate layer of the developing cortex. Like many long journeys, neuronal migration can go awry: in some syndromes neurons fail to leave the middle of the brain, in some cases neurons migrate too far, in other cases neurons appear to get lost somewhere along the journey. Together these syndromes are called neuronal migration disorders and clinically present in epilepsy, mental retardation and learning disorders. With the increased use of clinical MRI least 25 different neuronal migration disorders have been described and a number of the underlying genetic mutations have been identified. We are using a combination of in vitro approaches and mouse models to understand how these neuronal migration genes control migrating neurons.

Publications

Olson E.C. and Walsh C.A. (2007) Reelin mutations cause lissencephaly with cerebellar hypoplasia. Inborn Errors of Development 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press. (In Press).

Olson E.C. and Walsh C.A. (2007) "Reelin and the role of Dab1. Reelin Glycoprotein, biology, structure and roles in health and disease. Springer Publishers. (In Press).

Woodhead GJ, Swaminathan SK, Mutch CA, Noles SR, Olson EC, Chenn A (2006) Cell Density Controls Cerebral Cortical Neuronal Production by Regulating Beta-catenin. Journal of Neuroscience 26(48) 12620-30.

Olson EC, Kim S, Walsh CA (2006) Impaired neuronal positioning and dendritogenesis in the neocortex after cell autonomous Dab1 suppression. Journal of Neuroscience 26(6) 1767-75

Olson, E.C and Walsh C.A. (2002) Smooth, rough and upside neocortical development. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 12(3):320-7

Feng Y, Olson EC, Stukenberg PT, Flanagan LA, Kirschner MW, Walsh CA (2000) LIS1 regulates CNS lamination by interacting with mNudE, central component of the centrosome. Neuron. (28):665-79.

Dulabon L*, Olson EC*, Taglienti MG, Eisenhuth S, McGrath B, Walsh CA, Kreidberg JA, Anton ES. (2000) Reelin binds alpha3beta1 integrin and inhibits neuronal migration. Neuron. (27):33-44. (* co-first authors)

Olson EC, Schinder AF, Dantzker JL, Marcus EA, Spitzer NC, Harris WA (1998) Properties of Ectopic Neurons Induced by Xenopus Neurogenin1 Misexpression. Mol Cell Neurosci. (4/5):281-299.

Olson, E.C. (1996) Onset of electrical excitability during a period of circus plasma membrane movements in differentiating Xenopus neurons. Journal of Neuroscience 16: 5117-5129.

This profile was last updated on 09/29/2008

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