Wilma Friedman

Associate Professor and Chair, Neurocell Biology

Contact Info

Office: 501D Life Sciences Building
Office Phone: (973) 353-1160
Lab: ??? Life Sciences Building
Lab Phone:
E-mail: wilmaf@andromeda.rutgers.edu

Lab members

Marta Volosin (Research Associate Professor)
Andrea Cragnolini (Post-doc)
Wenyu Song, John Yarotsky, Yangyang Huang, Soyoung Choi, Audrey Le, Pradeepa Gokina, Christy Trotter (Graduate Students)

Educational Background

Research Interests

Neurotrophic factors are proteins that influence survival and function of neurons in the central and peripheral nervous systems. Recent studies, however, have shown that specific neurotrophic factors may cause neuronal death instead of survival, depending upon which receptors and signaling pathways are activated. We are examining mechanisms governing death- vs. survival-promoting actions of nerve growth factor and related neurotrophins during development and under inflammatory conditions.

Inflammation in the brain occurs as a consequence of trauma and in association with numerous neurologic diseases including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Under inflammatory conditions, glial cells produce cytokines, which directly influence neuronal and glial function. Among the effects of inflammatory cytokines is regulation of neurotrophic factors, which critically influence survival and function of many neuronal and glial populations in the central nervous system. The interactions of cytokines and neurotrophic factors in the brain have important consequences for neuronal survival and function during disease.

Work in my lab investigates specific cellular mechanisms of cytokine and neurotrophin actions on CNS neurons and glia. We use primary cultures of embryonic neurons and glia to investigate mechanisms by which specific cytokines and trophic factors influence neuronal survival, and to identify stimuli that regulate production of cytokines and trophic factors. Our work is geared to understanding how these factors affect glial and neuronal function, and how they may ultimately influence neuronal survival under inflammatory conditions associated with disease in the brain.

Selected Publications

• Friedman, W.J. and L.A. Greene, Neurotrophin signaling via Trks and p75, Experimental Cell Research, 253:131-142, 1999
• Friedman, W.J., Neurotrophins induce death of hippocampal neurons via the p75 receptor, J. Neurosci., 20 (17): 6340-6346, 2000
• Friedman, W.J. Cytokines regulate expression of the type 1 interleukin-1 receptor in rat hippocampal neurons and glia. Exp. Neurol. 168: 23-31, 2001
• Troy, C.M., J.E. Friedman, and W.J. Friedman, Mechanisms of p75-mediated death of hippocampal neurons: Role of caspases, J. Biol. Chem., 277 (37): 34295-34302, 2002
• Srinivasan, D., J.-H. Yen, D.J. Joseph, and W.J. Friedman, Cell type specific interleukin-1B signaling in the central nervous system, J. Neurosci., 24 (29): 6482-6488, 2004
• Friedman, W.J., Interactions of interleukin-1 with neurotrophic factors in the CNS: Beneficial or Detrimental? Mol. Neurobiol., 32 (2): 133-144, 2005
• Volosin, M., W. Song, R. D. Almeida, B.L. Hempstead, and W.J. Friedman, Interaction of survival and death signaling in basal forebrain neurons: Roles of neurotrophins and proneurotrophins, J. Neurosci, 26 (29):7756-7766, 2006
• Cragnolini, A., and W.J. Friedman, The function of p75NTR in Glia, Trends in Neurosciences 31 (2): 99-104, 2008