Menghon Cheah

Interests

My research focuses on integrin expression and activation to promote neurite outgrowth and axon regeneration in spinal cord injury. After injury, chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPG) and tenascins are among the molecules upregulated at the lesion site which are inhibitory to axon regeneration. Two separate studies in our lab have demonstrated alpha9 integrin promotes neurite outgrowth on tenascin-C, and one of the integrin activators, kindlin-1, overcomes the inhibition of CSPGs. My study aims to combine the beneficial effects of both alpha9 integrin and kindlin-1 by overcoming the combined inhibition of both tenascin-C and CSPGs, hence promoting greater axon regeneration and hopefully developing a new treatment for spinal cord injury.

A dorsal root ganglion neuron co-expressing alpha9 integrin and kindlin-1 extends long neurite on tenascin-C and aggrecan
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Research Focus

Equipment

Animal surgery

Behavioural analysis

Cell culture

Fluorescence microscopy

Immunohistochemistry

Recombinant protein expression