Artur Kania, Ph.D.

Artur Kania is Associate REsearcher in the Department of Medicine at the Université de Montréal and he directs the Neural Circuit Development Laboratory located at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal. Artur Kania is also Adjunct Professor in Experimental Medicine at McGill University.

CONTACT

Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal
110 Pine Avenue West
Montreal, Quebec
Canada H2W 1R7
Phone : 514-987 5526
Fax : 514-987 5544
E-mail: artur.kania@ircm.qc.ca

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Most nervous system developmental models under scrutiny are relatively complex and therefore difficult to study. To circumvent this problem, I chose to study the development of simple circuits involved in controlling motor behaviour. One such circuit is composed of neurons relaying sensory information to motor neurons which in turn innervate limb muscles to mediate the final output of the nervous system. In vertebrates, limb-innervating motor neurons reside within the spinal lateral motor column (LMC) segregated into dorsal limb muscle (extensors) innervating lateral LMC motor neurons, and ventral limb muscle (flexors) innervating medial LMC motor neurons. The binary organisation of LMC motor neurons is highlighted by lateral and medial cell body position within the LMC and their precise axonal trajectory into dorsal and ventral limb, respectively. To understand the molecular mechanisms controlling axonal guidance and cell body position of LMC motor neurons, my laboratory studies the development of these motor neurons in mouse and chick, offering ease of genetic manipulation and accessibility. My lab is attempting to answer 3 general questions related to this circuit: what are the molecules controlling LMC axon guidance and cell body migration? How are LMC axon projection paths coordinated with LMC cell body placement? What is the functional significance of the topographic organisation of LMC motor neurons?

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

A. B. Huber, A. Kania, T. S. Tran, C. Gu, N. de Marco Garcia, I. Lieberam, D. Johnson, T. M. Jessell, D. D. Ginty and A. Kolodkin. Distinct roles for secreted Semaphorin signaling in spinal motor axon guidance. (2005). Neuron 48:949-64.

J.P. Thaler, S. J. Koo, A. Kania, K. Lettieri. S. Andrews, C. Cox, T. M. Jessell, and S. L. Pfaff. A postmitotic role for Isl-class LIM homeodomain proteins in the assignment of visceral spinal motor neuron identity. (2004). Neuron 41:337-350.

A. Kania and T. M. Jessell. Topographic Motor Projections into the Limb Imposed by LIM Homeodomain Protein Regulation of Ephrin-A:EphA Interactions. (2003). Neuron 38:581-596.

A. Kania, R. Johnson, and T. M. Jessell. Coordinate roles for LIM homeobox genes in directing the dorsoventral trajectory of motor axons in the vertebrate limb. (2000). Cell 102:161-73.

USEFUL LINK

Artur Kania’s Laboratory

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