ROSSIGNOL, JULIEN

Ph.D.

Professor

Biography

Dr. Julien Rossignol is a Professor of Biochemistry and Neuroscience (Founding Faculty) in the College of Medicine at Central Michigan University. Dr. Rossignol arrived at CMU in 2007 as a neuroscientist in the Department of Psychology. He joined the new College of Medicine in 2011, where he is the founding course director of the Neuroscience and Behavioral Sciences course. He holds degrees in cell biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, biophysics and neuroscience from the University of Nantes and the University of Orleans in France. His graduate work involved studies on the therapeutic effect of adult stem cell transplantations in Huntington's disease rat model. Following post-doctoral fellowships at INSERM U643 in Nantes, France and in the Neuroscience Program and the Department of Psychology at Central Michigan University where he continued his work with stem cells as a potential cure for neurodegenerative diseases. As a CMED faculty member, Dr. Rossignol leads a team, involving, undergraduate, graduate, and medical students, working to deliver cell therapy and genomic editing to the brain through human-made dendrimer molecules. The approach could apply to treatment for conditions such as stroke, glioblastoma, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease. The research has produced exciting data using stem cells, viral vectors and genomic editing to understand and find novel treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Julien Rossignol's lab is part of the Field Neurosciences Institute laboratory for Restorative Neurology that he co-directs with Dr. Gary L. Dunbar. The lab was recently funded by the American Heart Association and a R21 from the National Institute of Health. The Field Neurosciences Institute (FNI) Laboratory for Restorative Neurology is part of the Brain Research and Integrative Neuroscience (BRAIN) Center, located on the second floor of the research wing in the Health Professions Building. The research mission of the FNI laboratory is to better understand the mechanisms involved in recovery of function following damage to the central nervous system and to devise strategies to promote these mechanisms in clinically relevant ways. Current research focuses on devising potential treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Huntington’s disease (HD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), stroke, and glioblastoma. https://www.cmich.edu/academics/colleges/college-of-medicine/research/basic/rossignol-lab/