Assistant Professor, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation University of Pittsburgh Phone: (412) 383-6575 Fax: (412) 383-6575 Email: moudega@pitt.edu Website: http://www.rehabmedicine.pitt.edu/content.asp?id=1949

Ph.D. University of Leiden

 

Research Interests

My research interest is spinal cord injury and repair and, more specifically, the potential of cellular and a-cellular transplants to reduce secondary injury (limit additional tissue loss), promote axonal regeneration, and increase motor and sensory outcome. In my laboratory, transplants are bemployed alone or in combination with other growth-supporting interventions such as increased levels of growth factors or decreasing the activity of inhibitory factors. These repair strategies are being investigated for their efficacy to elicit anatomical and/or functional restoration after spinal cord injury. The most widely used model for spinal cord injury/repair in my laboratory is an adult rat spinal cord contusion, which models the most frequently occurring human spinal cord injury. My studies especially focus on the repair efficacy of Schwann cells and bone marrow stromal cells, and these are often used in combination with viral vectors to modify these cells prior to transplantation or to modify spinal cord cells near an injury site to secrete extra growth-promoting factors. The repair efficacy of interventions that decrease the level or activity of naturally present growth-inhibitors is also studied in my laboratory especially in the context of axonal growth from an intraspinal graft into the adjacent spinal cord tissue. I also employ a zebrafish spinal cord injury model to elucidate the genes that are crucial for the failure or success of axon regeneration after spinal cord injury. The overall goal of my Spinal Cord Repair Laboratory is to develop spinal cord repair strategies for translation into the clinic.

 

 

Recent Publications

• Hurtado A, Moon LDF, Maquet V, Blits B, Jérôme R, Oudega M: Poly (D,L-lactic acid) macroporous guidance scaffolds seeded with Schwann cells genetically modified to secrete a bi-functional neurotrophin implanted in the completely transected adult rat thoracic spinal cord. Biomaterials 27(3): 430-442, 2006.
• Nandoe RDS, Hurtado A, Levi ADO, Grotenhuis A, Oudega M: Bone marrow stromal cell for repair of the spinal cord: towards clinical application. Cell Transplant 15: 563-577, 2006.
• Oudega M. Schwann cells and olfactory ensheathing cell implantation for repair of the contused spinal cord. Acta Physiol (Oxf) 189(2): 181-189, 2007.
• Hill CE, Hurtado A, Blits B, Bahr B, Wood PM, Bunge MB, Oudega M: Early necrosis and apoptosis of Schwann cells transplanted into the moderately contused adult rat spinal cord. Eur J Neurosci 26: 1422-1445, 2007.
• Hurtado A, Podinin H, Oudega M, Grimpe B: Deoxyribozyme-mediated knockdown of xylosyltransferase-1 mRNA promotes axon growth in the adult rat spinal cord. Brain 131(Pt 10): 2596-2605, 2008.
• Ylera B, Ertürk A, Hellal F, Nadrigny F, Hurtado A, Tahirovic S, Oudega M, Kirchhoff F, Bradke F: Chronically CNS-injured adult sensory neurons gain regenerative competence upon a lesion of their peripheral axon. Curr Biol 19, 930-936, 2009.
• Nandoe Tewarie DS, Hurtado A, Bartels RHMA, Grotenhuis A, Oudega M: Stem-cell based therapies for spinal cord injury. J Spin Cord Med 32(2): 105-114, 2009.