Dr Peter Arthur-Farraj


University position

Wellcome Clinical Research Career Development Fellow

Departments

Department of Clinical Neurosciences

Institutes

Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair

Email

pja47@cam.ac.uk

Research Theme

Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Interests

I am a neurology registrar with an interest in neuromuscular disorders and nerve repair. I have recently been awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Career Development Fellowship, to work with Professor Michael Coleman’s group at the John Van Geest Centre for Brain Repair. My research is focused on how the nerve supporting cells, Schwann cells, transform after injury into a specialized cell type called Repair Schwann cells, to help promote both nerve cell (neuron) survival and regrowth.

I am using a variety of techniques, including live imaging of Schwann cells-neuronal interactions in zebrafish, mammalian Schwann cells/neuron co-cultures in microfluidic chambers, genetic mouse models and viral vectors. My long-term career aim is to translate my research to help generate new treatments, particularly using gene therapy for traumatic nerve injury and neuromuscular disease.

Research Focus

Keywords

Repair Schwann cell

Nerve repair

axon degeneration

epigenetics

gene therapy

Clinical conditions

Peripheral neuropathy

Traumatic nerve injury

Equipment

Calcium imaging

Cell culture

Confocal microscopy

CRISPR/Cas gene editing

Immunohistochemistry

Live imaging

Microfluidic chambers

Transcriptomics

Transgenic mice

Viral vectors (lentivirus and AAV)

Zebrafish

Collaborators

Cambridge

Roger Barker

Michael Coleman

Ben Steventon

United Kingdom

Kristjan Jessen Web: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/jessenm...

International

Hugo Cabedo Web: http://in.umh-csic.es/persona...

Robert Fledrich Web: https://www.fledrich-lab.de/

Jose Gomez-Sanchez Web: http://in.umh-csic.es/persona...

Kelly Monk Web: https://www.ohsu.edu/xd/rese...

Ruth Stassart Web: https://www.stassart-lab.de/

Joost Verhaagen Web: https://nin.nl/about-u...

Associated News Items


    Key publications

    Arthur-Farraj P, Morgan CC, Adamowicz M, Gomez-Sanchez JA, Fazal SV, Beucher A, Razzaghi B, Mirsky R, Jessen K.R, Aitman TJ (2017), “Changes in the Coding and Non-coding Transcriptome and DNA Methylome that Define the Schwann cell Repair Phenotype after Nerve Injury” Cell Reports 20:1-16

    Jessen KR, Mirsky R, Arthur-Farraj P (2015), “The Role of Cell Plasticity in Tissue Repair: Adaptive Cellular Reprogramming” Developmental Cell 34:613-620

    Arthur-Farraj P, Latouche-Hartman, M, Wilton DK, Quintes S, Chabrol E, Banerjee A, Woodhoo A, Jenkins B, Rahman M, Turmaine M, Wicher GK, Mitter R, Greensmith L, Behrens A, Raivich G, Mirsky R, Jessen KR. (2012), “c-Jun reprograms Schwann cells of injured nerves to generate a repair cell essential for regeneration” Neuron 75:633-647

    Publications

    2022

    Peter Arthur-Farraj (2022), “Trick or treat? Does cancer fool Schwann cells by mimicking axons to promote metastasis into nerves?” Neural Regeneration Research

    Sergio Velasco-Aviles, Nikiben Patel, Angeles Casillas-Bajo, Laura Frutos-Rincón, Enrique Velasco-Serna, Juana Gallar, Peter Arthur-Farraj, Jose A Gomez-Sanchez, Hugo Cabedo (2022), “A genetic compensatory mechanism regulated by Jun and Mef2d modulates the expression of distinct class IIa Hdacs to ensure peripheral nerve myelination and repair” eLife 11:e72917

    2021

    Arthur-Farraj P, Coleman MP (2021), “Lessons from Injury: How Nerve Injury Studies Reveal Basic Biological Mechanisms and Therapeutic Opportunities for Peripheral Nerve Diseases” Neurotherapeutics

    Loreto A, Angeletti C, Gu W, Osborne A, Nieuwenhuis B, Gilley J, Arthur-Farraj P, Merlini E, Amici A, Luo Z, Hartley-Tassell L, Ve T, Desrochers LM, Wang Q, Kobe B, Orsomando G, Coleman MP. (2021), “Neurotoxin-mediated potent activation of the axon degeneration regulator SARM1.” eLife 10:e72823

    Richard J Perry, PhD, Arina Tamborska, MBChB, Bhagteshwar Singh, MRCP, Brian Craven, MBBCh, Richard Marigold, FRCP, Peter Arthur-Farraj, PhD, Jing Ming Yeo, MRCP, Liqun Zhang, PhD, Ghaniah Hassan-Smith, PhD, Matthew Jones, MD, Christopher Hutchcroft, MRCP, Esther Hobson, PhD, Dana Warcel, MBBS, Daniel White, MRCP, Phillip Ferdinand, MRCP, Alastair Webb, DPhil, Prof Tom Solomon, FMedSci, Prof Marie Scully, MD, Prof David J Werring, PhD, Prof Christine Roffe (2021), “Cerebral venous thrombosis after vaccination against COVID-19 in the UK: a multicentre cohort study  ” Lancet 398: 1147-56

    Wagstaff LJ, Gomez-Sanchez JA, Fazal SV, Otto GW, Kilpatrick AM, Michael K, Wong LYN, Ma KH, Turmaine M, Svaren J, Gordon T, Arthur-Farraj P, Velasco-Aviles S, Cabedo H, Benito C, Mirsky R, Jessen KR (2021), “Failures of nerve regeneration caused by aging or chronic denervation are rescued by restoring Schwann cell c-Jun” eLife 10:e62232

    2020

    Aravinthan Varatharaj; Naomi Thomas; Mark A Ellul; Nicholas W S Davies; Thomas A Pollak; Elizabeth L Tenorio; Mustafa Sultan; Ava Easton; Gerome Breen; Michael Zandi; Jonathan P Coles; Hadi Manji; Rustam Al-Shahi Salman; David K Menon; Timothy R Nicholson; Laura A Benjamin; Alan Carson; Craig Smith; Martin R Turner; Tom Solomon; Rachel Kneen; Sarah L Pett; Ian Galea; Rhys H Thomas; Benedict D Michael; Claire Allen; Neil Archibald; James Arkell; Peter Arthur-Farraj; Mark Baker et al. (2020), “Neurological and neuropsychiatric complications of COVID-19 in 153 patients: a UK-wide surveillance study” Lancet Psychiatry

    Arthur-Farraj P, Moyon S (2020), “DNA methylation in Schwann cells and in oligodendrocytes” Glia

    2019

    Jessen KR, Arthur-Farraj PJ (2019), “Repair Schwann cell update: Adaptive reprogramming, EMT, and stemness in regenerating nerves” Glia

    2012

    Arthur-Farraj PJ, Murphy SM, Laura M, Lunn MP, Manji H, Blake J, Ramdharry G, Fox Z, Reilly MM (2012), “Hand weakness in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease 1X” Neuromuscular Disorders 22:622-626

    Peroos S, Forsythe E, Pugh JH, Arthur-Farraj P, Hodes D (2012), “Longevity and Patau syndrome: what determines survival?” BMJ Case Reports 6;2012. pii: bcr0620114381.

    2011

    Arthur-Farraj P, Wanek K, Hantke J, Davis CM, Jayakar A, Parkinson DB, Mirsky R, Jessen KR (2011), “Mouse schwann cells need both NRG1 and cyclic AMP to myelinate” Glia 59:720-733

    2008

    Mirsky R, Woodhoo A, Parkinson DB, Arthur-Farraj P, Bhaskaran A, Jessen KR (2008), “Novel signals controlling embryonic Schwann cell development, myelination and dedifferentiation” Journal of Peripheral Nervous System 13:122-135

    Parkinson DB*, Bhaskaran A*, Arthur-Farraj P* (equal contribution), Noon LA, Woodhoo A, Lloyd AC, Feltri ML, Wrabetz L, Behrens A, Mirsky R, Jessen KR (2008), “c-Jun is a negative regulator of myelination” Journal of Cell Biology 181:625-637

    2006

    Arthur-Farraj P, Mirsky R, Parkinson DB, Jessen KR (2006), “A double point mutation in the DNA-binding region of Egr2 switches its function from inhibition to induction of proliferation: A potential contribution to the development of congenital hypomyelinating neuropathy” Neurobiology of Disease 24:159-169