Peter J. Hollenbeck
Associate Professor; Ph.D., California, Berkeley, 1984
Nerve cells are the longest cells in the body:
their relative dimensions can approximate those of
a garden 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.
To observe and perturb nerve cells directly, we remove
them from the nervous system of chick embryos and
induce them to grow in a culture dish, where we can
study their responses to specific molecular events
using the computer-enhanced light microscope.
Outside of my laboratory, I serve as a scientific advisor and public speaker for the national Tourette Syndrome Association. I help them to direct their research funds to doctors and scientists whose work holds promise for curing Tourette Syndrome, an inherited neurological movement disorder. I also give presentations regionally and nationally on behalf of the Association to children and families affected by Tourette Syndrome and to groups of doctors and educators who work with them.
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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Morris, R. L. and P. J. Hollenbeck. 1995. Axonal transport of mitochondria along microtubules and F-actin in living vertebrate neurons. J. Cell Biol. 131:1315-1326.
Overly, C. C. and P. J. Hollenbeck. 1996. Dynamic organization of endocytic pathways in axons of cultured sympathetic neurons. J. Neurosci. 16:6056-6064.
Olink-Coux, M. and P. J. Hollenbeck. 1996. Localization and active transport of mRNA in axons of sympathetic neurons in culture. J. Neurosci. 16:1346-1358.
Ruthel, G. and P. J. Hollenbeck. 2000. Growth cones are not required for initial establishment of polarity or differential branch growth in cultured hippocampal neurons. J. Neurosci. 20:2266-2274.
AWARDS
- Inducted into Aesculapian Society of Harvard Medical School, 1996
- Awarded Harvard Medical School Prize for Excellence in First Year Teaching, 1995
- R. R. Bensley Award for Young Investigator in Cell Biology from the American Association of Anatomists, 1995
SOCIETIES
- American Society for Cell Biology
- British Society for Cell Biology
INVITED/PLATFORM LECTURES
- Program in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Neurosciences, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, 2001.
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, 2000.
- Platform Presentation, Society for Neurochemistry meetings, Chicago, 2000.
- Research Roundtable: National Institute of Mental Health's on Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections, National Institute of Mental Health Neuroscience Center, 2000.
- Platform Presentation, Regulation of Cytoskeletal Motors Symposium, American Society of Cell Biology Meeting, San Francisco, 2000.
- Dept of Pharmacology & Physiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, 1999
- 3rd International Scientific Symposium on Tourette Syndrome, NYC, 1999