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Biography

Professor Gunnar Kwakye’s teaching interests are general neuroscience, neurodegeneration, neurotoxicology, neurobiology of disease, global public health, and first-year and capstone seminars. Research in the G. Kwakye lab utilizes a combined approach of molecular genetics, analytical chemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, biochemistry, and cell biology to understand the role of gene-environment interactions between toxicants, including pesticide and metal exposure and neurodegenerative diseases. The lab employs cellular model systems, including neuronal, glial, and other tissue culture models. The lab aims to define mechanisms of neuronal dysfunction and understand the basis of selective neuropathology by characterizing the molecular function of disease genes and their interaction with environmental toxicants under both healthy and pathological conditions. The lab applies toxicological and functional approaches in addition to novel high-throughput screening approaches. The lab has collaborative research projects that use innovative drug discovery through computer-aided drug design, genetic editing, and rigorous chemical synthesis of organic and inorganic small molecule probes to interrogate human biology processes and disease states in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer towards new therapeutics. The long-term goal is to develop neuroprotective strategies that mitigate neurological and other diseases with environmental etiologies.