Dr. John Weber
Associate Professor, Cross Appointment to Faculty of Medicine
jweber@mun.ca
Phone: 709 777 7022
H3416
B.S. Biology/Psychology from Eastern Michigan University
M.S. Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Montana
Ph.D. Pharmacology and Toxicology from the Medical College of Virginia
Postdoctoral Fellow at Erasmus University Rotterdam from 2000-2003
Assistant Professor at Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam from 2003-2006
Research description:
One area of my research is the study of altered physiology and cell death in the cerebellum, a region of the brain involved with motor learning and coordination.
I am particularly interested in cerebellar Purkinje neurons, and their response to a variety of traumatic insults, including mechanical injury, ischemia, and exposure to glutamate or ethanol.
The majority of studies are conducted in vitro, using primary cell cultures, or brain slices from rats or mice, and my technical approaches include whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology, ion imaging (calcium and chloride), and histology.
In addition to in vitro techniques, I analyze cerebella obtained from international collaborators conducting in vivo experiments on traumatic brain injury and from local collaborators conducting work on ischemia (at MUN).
Eventually, I plan to conduct in vivo work in which rats or mice will be exposed to ethanol or other agents, and then a combination of behavioral studies (to analyze effects on motor function) and analysis of cerebellar tissue will be conducted.
In another line of research, I use pharmacological approaches to investigate potential neuroprotective agents in vitro, primarily using cortical and hippocampal cell cultures.
I am especially interested in potential neuroprotective agents derived from natural products (e.g. oxyresveratrol, components of blueberries), and their effects on biomarkers associated with aging (in cell culture) as well as protective effects from mechanical injury (single or repetitive), ischemia, and glutamate-mediated ‘excitotoxicity’. A variety of approaches are used for this analysis including biochemical, histological, electrophysiological and imaging techniques.
Keywords: drug discovery, ethanol, excitotoxicity, neuropharmacology, neurophysiology, trauma.
Selected recent publications
Weber J.T., Forbes A., Cooze J., Roome B., Corbett L., Malone C., French V. and R. Trask. "Comparison of the effects of various paradigms of adolescent ethanol exposure on long-term motor function," Society for Neuroscience conference (2010), San Diego, CA. (poster presentation)
Slemmer J.E., Hossain M.Z. and J.T. Weber. "Animal models of traumatically-induced dementia," in Animal Models of Dementia (Neuromethods), volume 48, ed: P.P. De Deyn and D. Van Dam. Humana Press, New York, NY (2011), pp 643-662.
Hamodat S., Trask R., Hossain M.Z. and J.T. Weber. "Analyzing the potential neuroprotective effects of native Newfoundland and Labrador berries," Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences symposium (2010), Vancouver, BC. (poster presentation)
Hossain M.Z., Musteata F.M., Daneshtalab M. and J.T. Weber. "Chemical analysis of native Newfoundland berries," Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada Annual Conference (2009), Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Weber J.T., Cooze J., Forbes A. and V. French. "Effects of adolescent ethanol exposure on Purkinje cell viability," Experimental Biology Conference (2009), New Orleans, Louisiana.
Belmeguenai, A, Carta M, Weber JT, Botta P, DeRuiter, M, De Zeeuw CI, Valenzuela CF and Hansel C. (2008) Alcohol impairs long-term depression at the cerebellar parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapse. J. Neurophysiol. 100: 3167-3174.
Slemmer JE, Ardeshiri A, Ardeshiri A, Zhu C, Landshamer S, Wagner E, Blomgren K, Sweeney MI, Culmsee C, Weber JT and Plesnila N. (2008) Causal role of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) for neuronal cell death following traumatic injury. Am. J. Pathol. 173: 1795-1805.
Slemmer JE, Haasdijk ED, Engel DC, Plesnila N and Weber JT. (2007) Aldolase C-positive cerebellar Purkinje cells are resistant to delayed death after cerebral trauma and AMPA-mediated excitotoxicity. Eur. J. Neurosci. 26: 649-656.
Yuan Q, Qiu, DL, Weber JT, Hansel C and Knöpfel T. (2007) Climbing fiber-triggered metabotropic slow potentials enhance dendritic calcium transients and simple spike firing in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Mol. Cell. Neurosci., 596-603.
Slemmer JE and Weber JT. (2005) The extent of damage following repeated injury to hippocampal cells is dependent on the severity of insult and inter-injury interval. Neurobiol. Dis. 18: 421-431.
Engel DC, Slemmer JE, Vlug AS, Maas AIR and Weber JT. (2005) Combined effects of mechanical and ischemic injury to cortical cells: Secondary ischemia increases damage and decreases effects of neuroprotective agents. Neuropharmacology 49: 985-995.
Coesmans M, Weber JT, DeZeeuw CI and Hansel C. (2004) Bidirectional parallel fiber plasticity in the cerebellum under climbing fiber control. Neuron 44: 691-700.
Slemmer JE, Matsushita S, De Zeeuw CI, Weber JT and Knöpfel T. (2004) Glutamate-induced elevations in intracellular chloride concentration in hippocampal cell cultures derived from EYFP-expressing mice. Eur. J. Neurosci. 19: 2915-2922.
