Disciplines: Developmental Neuroscience

Interests: Assembly and disassembly of the nervous system, adaptive feeding circuitry, neurotrophic factors, Alzheimer's Disease, Nervous system injury

Research Description: I've been fascinated by the mechanisms involved in the assembly and functioning of the nervous system ever since my time as a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, working in David Ginty's lab (who is now at Harvard) (Cell, 2006). That experience taught me how to incorporate my passion for mechanistic experiments into various paradigms exploring physiological relevance. In fact, it allowed me to delve into different aspects of nervous system development, such as survival competition (Science, 2008) and the formation/restriction of synapses (Neuron, 2010). These experiences prompted me to investigate how antagonistic cytokine signaling governs the construction and refinement of the nervous system in my own laboratory (Neuron, 2014; MCN, 2017; Dev Neuro, 2018; MCN, 2020). I'm also collaborating with Bettina Winckler on unraveling the molecular basis of long-distance neurotrophic construction signaling (Nat. Neuro, 2014; J. Neuro, 2015; Dev Cell, 2017; Sci Rep, 2018). Additionally, we're exploring how TNFR family signaling suppresses pro-growth cues to facilitate nervous system degeneration (Cur Bio, 2017; J Neuro, 2019; eNeuro, 2020). Over the past few years, my focus has shifted towards understanding how neurotrophic factor signaling mediates adaptations to homeostatic challenges. To this end, I've joined forces with Ali Güler, an expert in dissecting the neural correlates of feeding behavior at UVa (NutD, 2017; Cur Bio, 2020; eLife, 2020; Trends in Endo & Metab, 2021). We're also working on developing tools like mass cytometry (in collaboration with E. Zunder) to enhance the depth and speed of our research program, unlocking several questions that were previously considered insurmountable (Nat Neuro, 2016, 2019, 2022).

Selected Publications:

Suo, Dong, Juyeon Park, Anthony W. Harrington, Larry S. Zweifel, Stefan Mihalas, and Christopher D. Deppmann. "Coronin-1 is a neurotrophin endosomal effector that is required for developmental competition for survival." Nature neuroscience 17, no. 1 (2014): 36-45.

Wheeler, Michael A., Danielle L. Heffner, Suemin Kim, Sarah M. Espy, Anthony J. Spano, Corey L. Cleland, and Christopher D. Deppmann. "TNF-α/TNFR1 signaling is required for the development and function of primary nociceptors." Neuron 82, no. 3 (2014): 587-602.

Wheeler MA, Smith CJ, Ottolini M, Barker BS, Purohit AM, Grippo RM, Gaykema RP, Spano AJ, Beenhakker MP, Kucenas S, Patel MK, Deppmann CD, Güler AD. Genetically targeted magnetic control of the nervous system. (2016) Nature Neuroscience. PMCID:  PMC4846560

Gamage, K.K., Cheng, I., Park, R.E., Karim, M.S., Edamura, K., Hughes, C., Spano, A.J., Erisir, A. and Deppmann, C.D. (2017) Death Receptor 6 Promotes Wallerian Degeneration in Peripheral Axons. Current Biology.  Current Biology PMID: 28441556.  PMCID:  PMC5526621
 *Yong, Y., *Gamage, K., Cheng, I., Barford, K., Spano, A., Winckler, B. and +Deppmann, C., (2019). p75NTR and DR6 regulate distinct phases of axon degeneration demarcated by spheroid rupture. Journal of Neuroscience, 39(48), pp.9503-9520. PMID 31902720

Podyma B, Johnson DA, Sipe L, Remcho TP, Battin K, Liu Y, Yoon SO, +Deppmann CD, +Güler AD. (2020) The p75 neurotrophin receptor in AgRP neurons is necessary for homeostatic feeding and food anticipation. Elife. PMID: 31995032.

Keeler AB, Van Deusen AL, Gadani IC, Williams CM, Goggin SM, Hirt AK, Vradenburgh SA, Fread KI, Puleo EA, Jin L, Calhan OY, +Deppmann CD, +Zunder ER. A developmental atlas of somatosensory diversification and maturation in the dorsal root ganglia by single-cell mass cytometry. Nat Neurosci. 2022 Nov;25(11):1543-1558. doi: 10.1038/s41593-022-01181-8. Epub 2022 Oct 27. PMID: 36303068.

Van Deusen, Amy L., Sarah M. Goggin, Corey M. Williams, Austin B. Keeler, Kristen I. Fread, Irene Cheng, +Christopher D. Deppmann, and +Eli R. Zunder. "A developmental atlas of the mouse brain by single-cell mass cytometry." bioRxiv (2022).

Kumar S, Budhathoki S, Oliveira CB, Kahle AD, Calhan OY, +Lukens JR, +Deppmann CD. Role of the caspase-8/RIPK3 axis in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis and Aβ-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation. JCI Insight. 2023 Feb 8;8(3):e157433. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.157433. PMID: 36602874.