WebmedCentral Editor
View all WebmedCentral Editors
 
No Image

Dr. Michael King

Associate Scientist
Pharmacology & Therapeutics, University of Florida College of Medicine
Box 100267
 

Brief Biography:


I obtained my undergraduate degree at the University of Massachusetts in Physiological Psychology in 1979 and my doctorate in Neuroscience from the University of Florida in 1985. I returned to UF after a 3 year postdoctoral fellowship doing in vivo hippocampal electrophysiology at the University of Virginia. From my dissertation project, the first experimental data demonstrating neuronal recovery from chronic alcohol neuropathology, to our extensive work on neurotrophin gene delivery and pharmacological neuroprotection in multiple neurodegeneration models, my work has had an enduring focus on brain and behavioral restoration. Since the late 1990's we have made significant contributions to the development and refinement of tools for brain gene delivery using viral and non-viral vector approaches. I have over 25 years experience working on neurodegeneration, and have worked on modeling and therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases for nearly 15 years. We have made significant contributions to the development and refinement of tools for brain gene delivery using viral and nonviral vector approaches. My lab has developed and applied quantitative stereological and histometric techniques, and electrophysiological paradigms, to address hypotheses about the mechanisms of neuropathology in human tissue, animals, and in vitro models of progressive neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and frontotemporal dementia, as well as chronic alcoholism, epilepsy, brain trauma, developmental disorders, and normal aging. Much of my research has involved hippocampal neurobiology, using anatomical, behavioral, electrophysiological, biochemical, and molecular methods to investigate the organization, connectivity, function, development, and pathology of this temporal lobe structure. Productive collaborations with neurologists, psychiatrists, neurosurgeons, structural biologists, pharmacologists, and engineers demonstrate the diverse perspective and range of techniques we bring to the translational development of genetic correction and pharmacological therapeutics for neurodegenerative conditions. I have been a VA research biologist since 1989 in addition to my Associate Scientist position at the University of Florida. My time is distributed at 80% research, 10% teaching/mentoring, and 10% administration (vice-chair, VA IACUC, vice-chair, VA R&D Subcommittee on Research Safety).

 

Academic positions:


Associate Scientist, University of Florida College of Medicine Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics

 

Research interests:


Neurodegenerative disease; Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury neurohistology and histometry, image analysis and stereology, correlative MRI hippocampal anatomy, physiology, pathology

 

What I think of the idea behind WebmedCentral:


A long-overdue mechanism to provide an open and accountable exchange of data and ideas about it.