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Dunbar, Gary

FACULTY

Biography

Gary L. Dunbar received a B.A. in Philosophy and a B.S. in Biopsychology from Eckerd College.  He received an M.A. in Psychology and a M.S. in Biology from Central Michigan University (CMU) and his Ph.D. in Psychobiology from Clark University.  He is the John G. Kulhavi Endowed Professor and E. Malcolm Field Endowed Chair of Neuroscience at CMU. He is a former President of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, the Michigan Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, and the American Society for Neural Therapy and Repair and serves on several Editorial Boards, including the Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education (for which he served as Editor-in-Chief). He has received several teaching awards, including Michigan Professor of the Year from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support for Education in 1997, and a Distinguished Faculty Member award from the Michigan Association of Governing Boards of State Universities in 1998 and in 2015. He has over 120 publications on recovery of function after brain injury or disease.  His research on therapies for stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, glioblastoma, and neurodegenerative diseases has been funded by NIH, NSF, and various foundation and industry grants and contracts.  

More about Gary Dunbar

†Conner, L.T., Srinageshwar, B., Bakke, J., Dunbar, G.L., and Rossignol, J. (2023). Advances in stem cell and other therapies for Huntington’s disease: An update. Brain Research Bulletin 100(12): 110673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2023.110673.

#Gallo, K., Srinageshwar, B., †Ward, A., †Diola, C., Dunbar, G.L., Rossignol, J., and Bakke, J.L. (2023). Inducible knockout of 14-3-3β attenuates proliferation and spheroid formation in a human glioblastoma cell line U87MG. Brain Science, 13, 868. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13060868.

Stadler, J., Schurr, H., Doyle, D., Garmo, L., Srinageshwar, B., Spencer, M.R., Petersen, R.B., Dunbar, G.L., and Rossignol, J. (2022) Temporal profile of reactive astrocytes after ischemic stroke in rats. Neuroglia 3: 99-111. https://doi.org/10.3390/neuroglia303007. 

Maiti, P., Manna, J., Thammathong, J., Evans, B., Dubey, K.D., Banerjee, S., and Dunbar, G.L. (2021). Tetrahydrocurcumin has similar anti-amyloid properties as curcumin: in vitro comparative structure-activity studies. Antioxidants 10: 1592. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10101592.

#Story, D., #Gallien, J., #Al-Gharibeh, A., Sandstrom, M., Rossignol, J., and Dunbar, G.L. (2021). Housing R6/2 mice with wild-type littermates increases lifespan. Journal of Huntington’s Disease. https://doi.org/10.3233/JHD-210474.

Bose, R., Banerjee, S., and Dunbar, G.L. (2021). Modeling neurological disorders in 3D organoids using human-derived pluripotent stem cells. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 9: 1-17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.640212.

Banerjee, S., Mukherjee, B., Poddar, M.K., and Dunbar, G.L. (2021). Carnosine improves aging-induced cognitive impairment and brain regional neurodegeneration in relation to the neuropathological alterations in the secondary structure of amyloid beta (Aβ). Journal of Neurochemistry 158(3): 710-723. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.15357.

Gharaibeh, A., Maiti, P., Culver, R., Heilman, S., Srinageshwar, B., Story, D., Spelde, K., Paladugu, L., Munro, N., Muhn, N., Kolli, N., Rossignol, J., Dunbar, G.L. (2020). Solid lipid curcumin particles protect medium spiny neuronal morphology and reduce learning and memory deficits in the YAC128 mouse model of Huntington’s disease.  Int. J. Mol. Sci 21 (24), 9542; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21249542.

Srinageshwar, B. †Florendo, M., Clark, B., Johnson, K., Munro, N., Peruzzaro, S., Antcliff, A., Andrews, M., †Figacz, A., Swanson, D., Dunbar, G.L, Sharma, A., and Rossignol, J. (2020). A mixed-surface polyamidoamine dendrimer for in vitro and in vivo delivery of large plasmids. Pharmaceutics 12, 619, https://doi:10.3390/phamaceutics12070619.

*Thompson, D., *Otero, P., Srinageshwar, B., Petersen, R.B., Dunbar, G.L., and Rossignol, J. (2020).  Possible roles of epigenetics in stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease.  Epigenomics 10.2217; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32396465.

Rossignol, J., Srinageshwar, B., and Dunbar, G.L. (2020). Current therapeutic strategies for glioblastoma. Brain Sciences 10(1): 15.  https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10010015.

†Fana, M., #Gallien, J., #Srinageshwar, B., Dunbar, G.L., Rossignol, J. (2020). PAMAM Dendrimer nanomolecules utilized as drug delivery systems for potential treatment of glioblastoma: A systematic review. International Journal of Nanomedicine 15:2789-2808. PubMed PMID: 32368055. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S243155.

Maiti, P., #Plemmons, A., #Bowers, Z., Weaver, C., and Dunbar, G.L. (2020). Labeling and imaging of amyloid plaques in brain tissue using the natural polyphenol curcumin. J. Vis. Exp. (153): e60377; https://doi.org/10.3791/60377.

#Srinageshwar, B., Petersen, R.B., Dunbar, G.L and Rossignol J, (2020). Prion‐like mechanisms in neurodegenerative disease: Implications for Huntington's disease therapy. Stem Cells Translational Medicine, 9:559–566. PubMed PMID:31997581; https://doi.org/10.1002/sctm.19-0248.

Rossignol, J., Srinageshwar, B., and Dunbar, G.L. (2020). Current therapeutic strategies for glioblastoma. Brain Sciences 10(1): 15.  https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10010015.

 

* indicates undergraduate student, # indicates graduate student, and † indicates medical student co-author.

Dr. Dunbar's teaching and research interests are in behavioral neuroscience. His recent research is focused on the using transplants of genetically altered stem cells, dietary supplements, and pharmacological treatments for cognitive/or motor deficits following brain damage, spinal cord injury, glioblastoma, and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. His research has been supported by grants and contracts from the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, and several pharmaceutical companies and foundations.