Bio
Carrie Ann is a Ph.D. candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Marc Hammarlund in the Departments of Genetics and Neuroscience at Yale University. Her research focuses on improving the ability of neurons to regenerate after injury and understanding the importance of iron homeostasis in neuronal health and disease.
Carrie Ann is from a small town in northern Alabama and received her bachelor’s degree in biological chemistry and music from Dartmouth College in 2017. She combined her interests in music and neuroscience and passion for helping those living with neurodegenerative diseases by founding and directing a choral program for persons with dementia, their caregivers, and Dartmouth student volunteers. She hopes that her basic science research will inform the development of novel therapeutics to treat nerve damage and neurological diseases in humans.
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Bio written by Dr. Carrie Ann
How can we improve the ability of our nervous system to regenerate? A little worm might show the way
Our nervous system has the amazing ability to transmit information from our brain all the way to our fingers and toes through long, skinny processes called axons. These axons are fragile and can be damaged or break as the result of traumatic injury or disease. This results in loss of information reaching that axon’s target and symptoms such as numbness, pain, muscle weakness, or paralysis. While some axons may have the ability to slowly grow back, most fail to regenerate. Millions of people in the United States are currently living with peripheral nervous system injuries, and limited therapeutics have been developed to treat these injuries. In my research I use a nematode called C. elegans to model the process of axon regeneration in motor neurons. I use a laser to injury the axons of motor neurons and then use microscopy to watch the axons regenerate, or fail to regenerate, over time. My ongoing research aims to identify and understand genetic pathways that affect regeneration with the hopes that these pathways may be targeted to improve regeneration in humans too.
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Abstract written by Dr. Carrie Ann Davison (written for a general audience)
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Hammarlund Lab | Yale University School of Medicine
Neuronal degeneration, regeneration, and cell fate
+1 203-737-4581