Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine; Pediatrics; Department of Pediatrics among the best in the nation; world-class Pediatrics

Primary research interest: Cellular and molecular mechanisms of brain development and their perturbation in neuro-developmental disorders.

During nervous system development nerve cells generate long processes (axons) that grow out to synapse with target cells and form neuronal networks. During outgrowth the axon is tipped with an amoeboid terminal enlargement, the nerve growth cone. Growth cones play a crucial role in growth regulation, path finding, target cell recognition, and regeneration of the axon. Their roles in normal development and disease are at the center of the laboratory’s interests. Current studies are focused on cellular adhesive mechanisms of the growth cone and on the role of amyloid precursor protein (APP) in growth cone function and the pathogenesis of cognitive disability.

C.J. Herrick Award in Comparative Neurology

I.T. Hirschl Career Scientist Award, 1977

Senator Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Awards (NIH), 1984 and 1991

R. Caputto Lectureship and Gold Medal, 2004, Argentine Society for Neurochemistry

Publications in PubMed 

Books:

Widnell, CC, Pfenninger KH, (1990) Essential Cell Biology, Williams & Wilkins (Baltimore, Maryland, USA)

Pfenninger, KH, Shubik, VR (2001) The Origins of Creativity, Oxford University Press (Oxford, UK)