Dr. Jason Plemel began his training in the laboratory of Dr. Wolfram Tetzlaff, where he completed hisDoctorate. There he investigated two different strategies to improve white matter regeneration: transplantation of precursor cells to replace lost oligodendrocytes and cell culture to find novel targets to improve myelination. During Dr. Plemel’s postdoctoral work, he studied the contribution of microglia following myelin injury in the laboratories of Dr.Peter Stys and Dr. Wee Yong. His interdisciplinary project investigated mechanisms of how immune cells respond to primary degeneration. As well, he developed a new tool to image cell death and injury using spectral microscopy. Asa new faculty at the University of Alberta, Dr. Plemel and his laboratory are investigating how microglia plays an essential role in the regeneration of injured white matter and how microglia also can induce injury to white matter during different disease conditions. Their overarching hypothesis is that distinct microglia cellular phenotypes may be more neurotoxic or more pro-regenerative.

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