Sarah Richardson-Burns Graduate Student, Neuroscience Program Neuroscience Department Campus Mail Stop B-182 4200 E. 9th Avenue Denver, CO 80262 Email: Sarah.Richardson-Burns@uchsc.edu Telephone: 303-393-4684 Fax: 303-393-5271

Major Research and Clinical Focus:

The focus of my thesis research is on virus-induced neuronal apoptosis. Currently, we have 4 studies investigating the role of apoptosis in the pathogenesis of viral infections of the CNS and in primary neuronal cultures.

1. What signaling pathways are active in reovirus-infected neurons undergoing virus-induced apoptosis?
2. Does manipulation of apoptotic signaling molecules protect neurons from reovirus-induced apoptosis; in vitro and/or in vivo?
3. Is the capacity to induce apoptosis associated with the neurovirulence of a virus?
4. Does virus-induced neuronal apoptosis play a role in human viral infection of the CNS?

Curriculum Vitae

Model of Reovirus Induced Neuronal Apoptosis (PDF- 29kb)

Primary Neuronal Cultures (PDF - 139kb)

Reovirus Infected Neuronal Cultures (PDF - 787kb)

Biosketch

Sarah M. Richardson-Burns
Doctoral Candidate

E mail: sarah.richardson-burns@uchsc.edu
303-393-4684

Education
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
BSc: Biology; 1994-1998

University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver CO
PhD: Neuroscience; 1999-2003

Publications
Richardson-Burns SM, Kleinschmidt-DeMasters BK, DeBiasi RL, Tyler KL.
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and apoptosis of infected oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system of patients with and without AIDS. Arch Neurol. 2002 Dec;59(12):1930-6.

DeBiasi RL, Kleinschmidt-DeMasters BK, Richardson-Burns S, Tyler KL.
Central nervous system apoptosis in human herpes simplex virus and cytomegalovirus encephalitis. J Infect Dis. 2002 Dec 1;186(11):1547-57.

Richardson-Burns SM, Kominsky DJ, Tyler KL.
Reovirus-induced neuronal apoptosis is mediated by caspase 3 and is associated with the activation of death receptors. J Neurovirol. 2002 Oct;8(5):365-80.

Kantor L, Hewlett GH, Park YH, Richardson-Burns SM, Mellon MJ, Gnegy ME.
Protein kinase C and intracellular calcium are required for amphetamine-mediated dopamine release via the norepinephrine transporter in undifferentiated PC12 cells. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2001 Jun;297(3):1016-24.

Richardson-Burns SM, Haroutunian V, Davis KL, Watson SJ, Meador-Woodruff JH.
Metabotropic glutamate receptor mRNA expression in the schizophrenic thalamus. Biol Psychiatry. 2000 Jan 1;47(1):22-8.

Browman KE, Kantor L, Richardson S, Badiani A, Robinson TE, Gnegy ME.
Injection of the protein kinase C inhibitor Ro31-8220 into the nucleus accumbens attenuates the acute response to amphetamine: tissue and behavioral studies. Brain Res. 1998 Dec 14;814(1-2):112-9.