CURRICULUM VITAE
Armin Blesch, Ph.D.
Work address:
Spinal Cord Injury Center
University Hospital Heidelberg
Schlierbacher Landstr. 200A
69126 Heidelberg, Germany
Phone: +49-6221 56 29200
Fax: +49-6221 56 29208
E-Mail: armin.blesch@med.uni-heidelberg.de
Education:
10/86-10/92
10/92-2/95
Professional Experience:
3/95-9/98:
Department of Neurosciences
School of Medicine
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0626, USA
Phone: (858) 822-0051
Fax: (858) 534-5220
E-Mail: ablesch@ucsd.edu
B.S. and M.S. in Biology, University of Würzburg, Germany, (Major:
Genetics; Minors: Microbiology, Biochemistry, Cell and
Developmental Biology)
Graduate student, Department of Neurology, University of Würzburg,
Germany
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Neurosciences, University of
California, San Diego, CA, USA
10/98-7/02
Assistant Project Scientist, Department of Neurosciences, University
of California, San Diego, CA, USA
8/02- 6/06
Assistant Professor of Neurosciences, Department of Neurosciences,
University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
7/06-present
Associate Professor of Neurosciences, Department of Neurosciences,
University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
3/10-present
Director, Laboratory for Neuroregeneration, Spinal Cord Injury
Center, Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany
Scholarships
6/95 - 6/97
Postdoctoral Fellowship, German Research Council
7/97- 6/98
Fellowship, American Paralysis Association
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (LAST 5 YEARS)
McCoy MK, Ruhn KA, Martinez TN, McAlpine F, Blesch A, Tansey MG (2008). Intranigral
lentiviral delivery of dominant negative TNF attenuates neurodegeneration and behavioral deficits in
hemiparkinsonian rats. Mol Ther: 6(9):1572-1579.
May F, Matiasek K, Vroemen M, Caspers C, Mrva T, Arndt C, Schlenker B, Gais P, Brill T,
Buchner A, Blesch A, Hartung R, Stief C, Gansbacher B, Weidner N (2008). GDNF-transduced
Schwann cell grafts enhance regeneration of erectile nerves. Eur Urol: 54(5):1179-87.
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Blesch A, Tuszynski MH (2008). Neurotrophic Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease. . In: Tuszynski
MH, Kordower JH (eds.). CNS Regeneration: Basic Science and Clinical Advances. (2nd ed). pp 201223.
Blesch A, Tuszynski MH (2009). Neural repair: axonal regeneration and functional recovery:
Neurotrophic factor therapy: NGF, BDNF and NT3. In: Larry R. Squire, (Editor). Encyclopedia of
Neuroscience: Vol. 6, pp.1093-1100. Academic Press, Oxford.
Blesch A, Tuszynski MH (2009). Spinal cord injury: plasticity, regeneration and the challenge
of translational drug development. Trends Neurosci: 32:41-47.
Hollis E, Lu P, Blesch A, Tuszynski MH (2009) IGF-I gene delivery promotes corticospinal
neuronal survival but not regeneration after adult CNS injury. Exp Neurol: 215(1):53-59.
Nagahara, AH, Bernot T, Moseanko R, Blesch A, Conner J, Ramirez A, Gasmi M, Tuszynski
MH (2009). Long-term reversal of cholinergic neuronal decline in aged non-human primates by
lentiviral NGF gene delivery. Exp Neurol: 215(1):153-159
Nagahara A, Merrill DA, Coppola G, Tsukada S, Schroeder BE, Shakked, GM, Wang L,
Blesch, A. Kim A, Conner JM, Rockenstein E, Chao MV, Koo E, Geschwind D, Masliah E, Chiba
AA, Tuszynski MH (2009). Neuroprotective effects of BDNF in rodent and primate models of
Alzheimer’s disease. Nat Med: 5:331-337.
McAlpine FE, Lee J-K, Harms AS, , Ruhn KA, Blurton-Johns M, Hong J, Das P, Golde TE,
LaFerla FM, Oddo S, Blesch A, Tansey MG. (2009). Inhibition of soluble TNF signaling in a mouse
model of Alzheimer's disease prevents early amyloid-associated neuropathology. Neurobiol Dis:
34:163-177.
Hollis ER, Jamshidi P, Löw K, Blesch A, Tuszynski MH (2009). Induction of corticospinal
regeneration by lentiviral trkB-induced erk activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci, U S A: 106:7215-7220.
Alfa R, Tuszynski MH, Blesch A (2009). A novel inducible tyrosine kinase receptor for
regulated signal transduction and neurite outgrowth. J Neurosci Res: 87:2624-2631.
Taylor Alto L, Havton LA, Conner JM, Hollis ER II, Blesch A*, Tuszynski MH* (2009)
Chemotropic guidance facilitates axonal regeneration and synapse formation after spinal cord injury. Nat
Neurosci: 12:1106-1113 (*corresponding authors)
Kadoya K, Tsukada S, Lu P, Coppola G, Geschwind D, Filbin M, Blesch A, Tuszynski MH
(2009). Combined intrinsic and extrinsic neuronal mechanisms facilitate bridging axonal regeneration
one year after spinal cord injury. Neuron: 64(2):165-172.
Bonner JF, Blesch A, Neuhuber B, Fischer I (2010). Promoting directional axon growth from
neural progenitors grafted into the injured spinal cord. J Neurosci Res: 88(6):1182-1192.
Löw K, Blesch A, Hermann J, Tuszynski MH (2010). A dual promoter lentiviral vector for the
in vivo evaluation of gene therapeutic approaches to axon regeneration after spinal cord injury. Gene
Ther: 17:577-591.
Schlenker B, Matiasek K, Saur D, Gratzke C, Bauer RM, Herouy Y, Arndt C, Blesch A,
Hartung R, Stief CG, Weidner N, May F (2010). Effects of cavernous nerve reconstruction on
expression of NOS isoforms in rats. BJU Int: 106:1726-1731.
Vuppalanchi D, Coleman J, Yoo S, Merianda TT, Blesch A, Willis DE, Twiss JL (2010).
Conserved 3’UTR sequences direct subcellular localization of chaperone protein mRNAs in neurons. J
Biol Chem: 285:18025-18038.
Gros T, Sakomoto J, Blesch A, Havton L, Tuszynski MH (2010). Regeneration of long-tract
axons through sites of spinal cord injury using templated agarose scaffolds. Biomaterials: 31:67196729.
Brock J, Rosenzweig E, Blesch A, Moseanko R, Havton L, Edgerton V, Tuszynski MH (2010).
Local and remote growth factor effects after primate spinal cord injury. J Neurosci: 30:9728-9737.
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Harms AS, Ruhn KA, Varghese S, Treviño I, Blesch A, Tansey MG (2011). Delayed dominant
negative TNF gene therapy halts progressive loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons and behavioral
deficits in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease. Mol Ther: 19:46-52.
McCoy MK, Ruhn KA, Blesch A, Tansey MG (2011). TNF: A Key Neuroinflammatory
Mediator of Neurotoxicity and Neurodegeneration in Models of Parkinson's Disease. Adv in Exp Med
Biol 691:539-40.
Blesch A, Lu P, Tsukada S, Taylor Alto L, Roet K, Coppola G, Geschwind D, Tuszynski MH
(2012). Conditioning lesions before or after spinal cord injury recruit broad genetic mechanisms that
sustain axonal regeneration: superiority to cAMP-mediated effects. Exp Neurol: 235:162-173.
Ben-Yaakov K, Dagan SY, Segal-Ruder Y, Shalem O, Vuppalanchi D, Willis DE, Yudin D,
Rishal I, Rother F, Bader M, Blesch A, Pilpel Y, Twiss JL, Fainzilber M (2012). Axonal transcription
factors signal retrogradely in lesioned peripheral nerve. EMBO J: 31:1350-1363
McCall J, Nicholson L, Weidner N, Blesch A (2012) Optimization of sensory neuron
electroporation to study cell-autonomous regulators of neurite growth. Front Mol Neurosci: 5(11): 1-8.
Lu P, Blesch A, Graham L, Wang Y, Samara R, Banos K, Haringer V, Havton L, Weishaupt N,
Bennett DJ, Fouad K, Tuszynski MH (2012). Motor axonal regeneration after partial and complete
spinal cord transection. J Neurosci 32: 8208-8218.
Lu P, Wang Y, Graham L, McHale K, Gao, M, Wu D, Brock J, Blesch A, Rosenzweig ES,
Havton LA, Zheng B, Conner JM, Marsala M, Tuszynski MH (2012). Long-distance growth,
differentiation and connectivity of embryonic neural grafts after spinal cord injury: cell-intrinsic
mechanisms overcome spinal inhibition. Cell: 150: 1264-1273.
Coquery N, Blesch A, Stroh A, Fernández-Klett F, Klein J, Winter C, Priller J (2012).
Intrahippocampal transplantation of mesenchymal stromal cells promotes neuroplasticity without
conferring antidepressant effects. Cytother: 14:1041-1045.
Hou S, Nicholson L, van Niekerk E, Motsch M, Blesch A (2012). Dependence of regenerated
sensory axons on continuous neurotrophin-3 delivery. J Neurosci: 32:13206 –13220.
Blesch A, Fischer I, Tuszynski MH (2012). Chapter 35: Gene Therapy, neurotrophic factors
and spinal cord regeneration. In: Verhaagen J, McDonald III, JW (eds.). Handb Clin Neurol: 109:563574.
Franz S, Weidner N, Blesch A (2012). Gene therapy approaches to enhancing plasticity and
regeneration after spinal cord injury. Exp Neurol: 235:62-69.
McCall J, Weidner N, Blesch A (2012). Neurotrophic factors in combinatorial approaches for
spinal cord regeneration. Cell Tissue Res: 349:27-37.
Sandner B, Prang P, Rivera FJ, Aigner L, Blesch A, Weidner N (2012). Neural stem cells for
spinal cord repair. Cell Tissue Res: 349:349-362.
Weishaupt N, Blesch A, Fouad K (2012). BDNF: the career of a multifaceted neurotrophin in
spinal cord injury. Exp Neurol: 238: 254-264.
Merianda TT, Vuppalanchi D, Yoo S, Blesch A, Twiss JL (2013). Axonal transport of neural
membrane protein 35 mRNA increases axon growth. J Cell Sci: 126:90-102.
Hou S, Lu P, Blesch A (2013). Characterization of supraspinal vasomotor pathways and
autonomic dysreflexia after spinal cord injury in Fischer 344 rats. Auton Neurosci: [Epub ahead of
print].
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