Paul J. Reier, Ph.D.

reierProfessor & Eminent Scholar

Anne and Oscar Lackner Professor & Eminent Scholar
Department of Neuroscience
University of Florida
1149 Newell Drive, PO Box 100244
Gainesville, FL 32611-0244
Email: reier@ufl.edu
Office Phone: (352) 627-9324
Lab Phone: (352) 392-9088

Education:

1972 Ph.D.
(Anatomy)
Case-Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH
1973 Postdoctoral Fellowship
(Reproductive Biology/Neuro-Endocrinology)
Case-Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH

Key Words: Spinal cord injury, peripheral nerve injury, neural tissue transplantation, neuroplasticity, neural regeneration, neuroanatomical techniques, experimental neuropathology; respiratory neurobiology, behavioral analysis, immunocytochemistry, electron microscopy, intraspinal microstimulation

Research Summary:

My research addresses spinal cord injury (SCI) and repair with emphasis on better definition of the targets for intervention and optimization of promising strategies such as the use of neural progenitors (i.e., neural stem or stem-like cells). Our therapeutic approaches and injury models are designed to address future bench-to-bedside translational issues with attention to experimental rigor, transparency, and independent replication. Our studies thus focus on gaining insights related to: (a) the contribution of gray matter pathology to post-SCI functional outcomes, (b) the development of a neuroengineering approach to reactivate a spinal circuit silenced by SCI, and (c) development of research proposals to use such neuroengineering approaches to promote more directed host-graft interactions following intraspinal transplantation of neural precursors.