Division of BioMedical Sciences
Faculty of Medicine
Memorial University of Newfoundland
300 Prince Phillip Drive
St. John’s, NL, Canada, A1B 3V6
Phone: 709-777-8926 (office)

j.vanderluit@mun.ca

Current Lab Members:

Robert Bartlett, BSc (MSc student)
Lauren Fogarty, BSc (MSc student)
R. Brian Roome, BSc (MSc student)
Hiliary Martin (4th yr BSc Honours student)
Beibei Song (4th yr honours student)
Moriah Courtney, (3rd yr undergraduate MUCEP student)
Yeggapan Suppiah (3rd yr undergraduate volunteer)
SM Mahmudul Hasan, BSc, MSc (Laboratory technician)                 
Jieying Xiong, MSc (Laboratory Manager)


Previous Lab Members:

Angela Power, BSc (Honours) 2009, currently undergraduate medical student, Memorial University.
Ashley Sheen, Acadia Univ. BSc (Honours) 2010, veterinary student, Univ. of Prince Edward Island.
Craig Malone, MSc 2010, currently undergraduate medical student, Memorial University
Waleed Abdel-Razek, BSc (Technician) 2008, MSc in Physiotherapy, University of Toronto.
Michael Furlong, BSc (Technician) 2009, currently undergraduate medical student, University of Western Ontario.
Kristine Day, MSc (Research Assistant) 2010, Grants Facilitation Officer, Dept. of Pharmacy, Memorial University.


Stem cells and neurogenesis in the developing and adult mammalian brain.

Research Interests:

Neural stem cells generate the building blocks of the brain, therefore identifying the factors that regulate their numbers is essential for understanding their role in developmental disorders, cancer and regeneration. The discovery of stem cells in the adult mammalian brain has directed research towards stem cell based regeneration strategies. As a result of the paucity of endogenous stem cells within the adult brain, much research has been focussed on stem cell transplantation and strategies to expand the stem cell population. Since neural stem cell numbers are maintained by a balance between proliferation and cell death, my laboratory is exploring strategies to  promote neural stem cell survival within the endogenous stem cell population and in transplanted populations to ultimately explore their therapeutic potential.

Current Projects:

1. Identify the biological function of Mcl1 in regulating neural stem cell survival and neural regeneration.
2. Identify the mechanisms which regulate survival of neural stems in the developing mammalian brain.
3. Manipulate the expression of survival-promoting Bcl-2 family members to promote neural regeneration following an ischemic insult.
4. Identify the BH3-only Bcl-2 family members that are necessary to initiate neural stem cell apoptosis.

Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Canadian Foundation of Innovation – Leadership Opportunity Fund
Industrial Research and Innovation Fund (Newfoundland and Labrador)
Research and Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador
Canadian Stem Cell Network 
Medical Research Fund, Memorial University

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications:

Hasan SMM, Sheen A, Power AM, Langevin LM, Xiong J, Furlong M, Day K, Schuurmans C, Opferman JT, Vanderluit JL.  Mcl-1 regulates terminal mitosis of neural precursor cells in the mammalian brain. (in rsubmission at Development).

Malone CD, Hasan SMM, Power AM, Sheen A, Xiong J, Furlong M, Opferman JT, Vanderluit JL. Mcl-1 is a survival factor for neural stem cells in the embryonic and adult mammalian brain. (2012) Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. 49:439-447.

Germain M, Nguyen AP, Le Grand JN, Arbour N, Vanderluit JL, Park DS, Opferman JT, Slack RS. (2011) Mcl-1 is a stress sensor that regulates autophagy in a developmentally regulated manner. EMBO Journal. 30(2):395-407.

McClellan KA*, Vanderluit JL*, Julian LM, Andrusiak MG, Dugal-Tessier D, Park DS, Slack RS. (2009). P107/E2F regulates FGF2-mediated proliferation of neural progenitor cells. (*equal contributions) Molecular and Cellular Biology, 29(17):4701-4713.

Arbour NA*, Vanderluit JL*, Legrand JN, Jahani-asl A, Cheung ECC, Kelly, M, MacKenzie AE, Park DS, Opferman JT, Slack RS. (2008) Mcl-1 is a key regulator of apoptosis in neural precursor cells and following acute neuronal injury in vitro. (*equal contributions). Journal of Neuroscience 28:6068-6078.

Vanderluit JL, Wylie CA, McClellan KA, Ghanem N, Fortin A, Callaghan S, Park DS, Slack RS. (2007) The Retinoblastoma family member, p107 regulates the rate of progenitor commitment to a neuronal fate. Journal of Cell Biology , 178(1):129-139.

Keramaris E, Vanderluit JL, Bahadori M, Mousavi K, Davis RJ, Flavell R, Slack RS, Park DS. (2005) c-Jun N-terminal kinase 3 deficiency protects neurons from axotomy-induced death in vivo through mechanisms independent of c-Jun phosphorylation. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 280(2):1132-41.

Vanderluit JL, Ferguson KL, Nikoletopoulou V, Parker MH, Ruzhynsky V, Alexson T, McNamara SM, Park DS, Rudnicki M, Slack RS. (2004) P107 regulates neural precursor cells in the mammalian brain. Journal of Cell Biology 116:853-863.

Chen D, Livne-bar I, Vanderluit JL, Slack RS, Agochiya M, Bremner R. (2004) Cell-specific effects of RB or RB/p107 loss on retinal development implicate an intrinsically death-resistant cell-of-origin in retinoblastoma.  Cancer Cell. 5(6):539-51. 

Vanderluit, JL, McPhail, LT, Kobayashi, NR, Fernandes, KJL, Tetzlaff, W. (2003)  In vivo application of mitochondrial inhibitors blocks the induction of apoptosis in axotomized neonatal facial motoneurons.  Cell Death and Differentiation. 10:969-976.

Ferguson, KL, Vanderluit, JL, Hebert, JM, McIntosh, WC, Tibbo, E, MacLaurin, JG, Park, DS, Wallace, VA, Vooijs, M, McConnell, SK, Slack, RS  (2002) Telencephalon-specific Rb knockouts reveal enhanced neurogenesis, survival and abnormal cortical development. EMBO Journal, 21(13):3337-3346.

Vanderluit, JL, McPhail, LT, Fernandes, KJL, McBride, CB, Huguenot, C, Roy, S, Robertson, GS, Nicholson, DW, Tetzlaff, W. (2000) Caspase-3 is developmentally regulated in facial motoneurons and activated following axotomy in neonatal rodents but is ultimately not required for cell death. European Journal of Neuroscience, 12:3469-3480

Vanderluit, JL, Bourque, J, Peterson, A, Tetzlaff, W. (2000) Demyelination of the dorsal columns by photablation of oligodendrocytes in transgenic mice. Journal of Neuroscience Research. 62:28-39.