Ray Dingledine, PhD

Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, School of Medicine

Lab Website MyNCBI Bibliography LinkedIn Profile

Graduate Programs

Full Member - Molecular and Systems Pharmacology
Full Member - Neuroscience

Education

PhD, Stanford University, 1975
BS, Michigan State University, 1971

Contact Information

Email: rdingle@emory.edu

Phone: 404-727-5626

Address:
O. Wayne Rollins Research Center, Room 5009 1510 Clifton Road NE Atlanta, GA 30322 1940-001-1AF

Why is the hippocampus so vulnerable to seizures and seizure-induced damage? What molecular and cellular changes underlie the gradual transition from a normal brain to a brain with epilepsy? How does neuroinflammation influence the development of epilepsy? These are some of the questions that drive research in our laboratory. A major research emphasis in our lab involves the identification of novel targets and pathways involved in the basic cellular and molecular mechanisms of epilepsy. Our recent work and that of others highlights a role for cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) signaling pathways in the cognitive deficits, impaired synaptic inhibition, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration caused by seizures. We have developed a mouse with COX2 conditionally ablated in principal forebrain neurons and are using this mouse to study the role of neuronal COX2 in epilepsy. We also employ a chemical biology approach to develop novel small molecule modulators of prostaglandin EP1 and EP2 receptors and are determining whether they interrupt the development of epilepsy. As a whole our work integrates information from a variety of experimental strategies to contribute to a better understanding of epilepsy, with broad implications for other brain disorders