PETER HOLLENBECK
Professor, and Associate HeadLILY 2-237
Phone: 765-496-3378
Nerve cells are the longest cells in the body: their relative dimensions can approximate those of a hose 1 inch in diameter and thousands of feet long. This allows individual nerve cells to convey messages rapidly in the nervous system, but also requires that they transport the energy sources and raw materials that they need over enormous distances. In my laboratory we are working to determine how nerve cells accomplish and coordinate this long-range movement, and how the process goes awry in neurodegenerative diseases. We are particularly interested in how nerve cells transport and redistribute mitochondria, the organelle that is major source of chemical energy in the cell, over long distances. To observe and perturb nerve cells directly, we remove them from the nervous system of chick or Drosophila embryos and induce them to grow in a culture dish, where we can study their responses to specific molecular events using computer-enhanced light microscopy. We also measure events in the nerve axons directly in live Drosophila larvae. Using these methods, we have gained insight into how mitochondria are moved, and how the cell uses molecular signals to send them to the right part of the axon at the right time, as well as how their activity and replication are regulated across time and distance.
Outside of my laboratory, I serve the national Tourette Syndrome Association as a scientific advisor and public speaker. I assist the organization in directing research funds to neuroscientists, geneticists, and clinicians whose work holds promise for understanding and curing Tourette Syndrome, an inherited neurological movement disorder. I also give presentations on behalf of the Association to children and families affected by Tourette Syndrome and to groups of doctors and educators who work with them.
Education
Ph.D., California, Berkeley, 1984
Current lab personnel:
Research assistants: Elisabeth Garland-Kuntz, Doris Kemler
Graduate students: Swathi Devireddy, Hyun Sung, Pin-Chao Liao
Undergraduates: Katherine Dalzotto, Stephen Grote, Taylor Lampe
Awards
Charles B. Murphy Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching, Purdue University, 2013
Biological Sciences Graduate Student Mentoring Award, 2011-12
Honorable Mention, Top Teacher in College of Science Awards, 2011
Purdue Seeds of Success Award for winning research grants in excess of $1,000,000; 2010
The Top Teacher in College of Science Award, 2008
Named to Purdue University Teaching Academy, 2007
Top Ten Teacher in College of Science Award, 2005, 2006, 2007
Purdue Seeds of Success Award for winning research grants in excess of $1,000,000; 2004
Chiscon Undergraduate Teaching Award, 2004
Grants
NIH-Control of Neuronal Organelle Transport R01 NS02073-22
Other Activities
Grant Review and Study Sections
- NIMH, NINDS, NSF
- United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation
- American Cancer Society
- Tourette Syndrome Association
Advisory Boards
- Tourette Syndrome Association Scientific Advisory Board, 1997-2012; Vice-Chair, 2004-11
- NIMH/NIH Council (2005-2008)
Recent Research Presentations
- Location and organization of features of the mitochondrial life cycle in neurons. ICTS-TIFR Advanced Workshop on Axonal Transport and Neurodegenerative Disorders, Mahabaleshwar, India, January 23, 2013.
- Mitochondrial transport, ROS production and metabolism in disease models. ICTS-TIFR Advanced Workshop on Axonal Transport and Neurodegenerative Disorders, Mahabaleshwar, India, January 21, 2013.
- Transport and function of axonal mitochondria: what do disease models tell us about the normal life cycle in neurons? 52nd Annual American Society for Cell Biology national meetings, San Francisco, CA, December 15, 2012.
- Mitochondrial transport and function in the normal and pathologic nervous system. Dept of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University School of Medicine, Philadelphia PA, May 1, 2012.
- Mitochondrial transport and function in the normal and pathologic nervous system. Dept of Neuroscience, Univ of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis MN, February 9, 2012.
- Mitochondrial motility, metabolic state and ROS production in the normal and pathologic Drosophila nervous system. Conference on Emerging Topics in the Neuronal Cytoskeleton, Santa Cruz, Chile, April 25, 2011.
- How are mitochondrial transport and function regulated in neurons? Dept of Cancer and Cell Biology, Univ of Cincinnati School of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, April 14, 2011
- How are Mitochondrial transport and function regulated in neurons? Dept of Biology, Univ of California, Santa Cruz, CA, February 14, 2011.
- Mitochondria in the Axon: Movement and Metabolism. Chicago Cytoskeleton Conference, Northwestern Medical School, Chicago, IL March 26, 2010.
- Transport, fission and function: the life-cycle of mitochondria in the nervous system. Gordon Research Conference on Molecular and Cellular Bioenergetics, Andover, NH, June 11, 2009
- How are mitochrondrial transport and function regulated in neurons?, St Jude's Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, May 6, 2009
- A Drosophila model of Friedreich ataxia shows disrupted mitochondrial transport and membrane potential but no increased ROS production, Federation of European Neuroscience Societies meeting, Geneva Switzerland, July 13, 2008.
- Mitochondrial transport, membrane potential and ROS production in a Drosophila model of Friedreich ataxia, United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation Symposium, Indianapolis, IN, June 26, 2008.
- Mitochondrial transport, membrane potential and ROS production in a Drosophila model of Friedreich ataxia, Nature Genetics/IPSEN Foundation Symposium on Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Neurological Disease, Duke University, Durham, NC, December 5, 2008.
Conferences
- ICTS-TIFR Advanced School and Workshop on Axonal Transport and Neurodegenerative Disorders, Bombay India, January 16-25, 2013.
- 52nd Annual American Society for Cell Biology national meetings, San Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2012.
- 51st Annual American Society for Cell Biology national meetings, Denver CO, December 9-12, 2011.
- Emerging Topics in the Neuronal Cytoskeleton, Santa Cruz, Chile, April 24-27, 2011.
- 50th Annual American Society for Cell Biology national meetings, Philadelphia, PA, December 11-14, 2010.
- Tourette Syndrome Association National Conference, Alexandria, VA, April 15-18, 2010
- 49th Annual American Society for Cell Biology national meetings, San Diego, CA, December 5-9, 2009.
- Gordon Research Conference on Molecular and Cellular Bioenergetics, Andover, NH, June 7-12, 2009
- Federation of European Neuroscience Societies meeting, Geneva Switzerland, July 12-16, 2008.
- United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation Symposium, Indianapolis, IN, June 25-28, 2008.
- Nature Genetics/IPSEN Foundation Symposium on Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Neurological Disease, Duke University, Durham, NC, December 4-5, 2008.