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Milos Pekny
Professor, Laboratory of Astrocyte Biology and CNS Regeneration
Center for Brain Repair and Rehabilitation
Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation
Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology
Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden |
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Biosketch:
Milos Pekny received his MD (cum eminentia) and medical license from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, in 1989. He pursued his PhD studies at Uppsala University, Sweden, and received his PhD in 1994. Dr. Pekny's PhD thesis entitled "Studies of the function of platelet-derived growth factor and glial fibrillary acidic protein in vivo.transgenic approach" was the first doctoral thesis in Scandinavia in which gene targeting (gene knock-out)was applied to address developmental processes and disease pathogenesis. Dr. Pekny then moved to the University of Gothenburg in Sweden as a postdoctoral fellow and built his own research group. In 1999 he became Associate Professor in Medical Biochemistry and Director of the Laboratory of Astrocyte Biology and CNS regeneration. In 2005, Dr. Pekny and his laboratory moved to Dept. of Clinical Neuroscience at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg where he became Professor of Astrocyte Biology in the same year. Prof. Pekny is one of the leading European scientists in the field of astrocytes and CNS regeneration. The research focus of Prof. Pekny's laboratory has been on novel strategies for brain repair and regeneration. Pekny's laboratory redefined the concept of reactive gliosis in an injured brain (PNAS, 2006). Pekny's group with collaborators showed that reactive astrocytes play a key role in CNS trauma and stroke (J. Cell Biol., 1999; J. Neurosci., 2004; JCBFM, 2008) and identified these cells as a potential target for pharmacological intervention. They identified posttraumatic reactive gliosis as a major obstacle to CNS regeneration and demonstrated that the integration of neural transplants and neural stem cells can be largely improved by modulation of astrocyte activity (Nature Neurosci., 2003; Stem Cells, 2007). Prof. Pekny's laboratory has recently used single cell rtPCR for gene expression profiling of astrocytes as a step towards defining their molecular signature (Nucl. Acids Res, 2011). Prof. Pekny is Coordinator for the program ¯Novel strategies for brain regeneration afterstroke - from lab to patient to population? at the University of Gothenburg. He is a Steering Committee member and leader of the University of Gothenburg node in Marie Curie Training Network ¯Neuron-Glial Interactions? (EduGlia.eu) funded byEuropean Commission (2009-2013) and connecting laboratories of excellence in Europe and the Swedish representative and Work Group leader in a EU funded NANONET network. In 2005, Prof. Pekny received the Swedish Eric Fernström's Prize for outstanding medicalResearch. |
