Jaime Imitola is an American

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

and immunologist. Imitola's clinical and research program focuses on Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration and repair in humans. His research includes the translational neuroscience of

neural stem cells Neural stem cells (NSCs) are self-renewing, multipotent cells that firstly generate the radial glial progenitor cells that generate the neurons and glia of the nervous system of all animals during embryonic development. Some neural progenitor ste ...

into patients. Imitola is known for his discoveries on the intrinsic immunology of

, the impact of

inflammation Inflammation (from ) is part of the biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. The five cardinal signs are heat, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function (Latin ''calor'', '' ...

in the endogenous

neural stem cell Neural stem cells (NSCs) are self-renewing, multipotent cells that firstly generate the radial glial progenitor cells that generate the neurons and glia of the nervous system of all animals during embryonic development. Some neural progenitor st ...

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

, and the ethical implications of stem cell tourism in neurological diseases.

Early life and education

Imitola earned his M.D. degree from the University of Cartagena in 1993. He went on to receive postdoctoral training at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, Imitola completed postdoctoral fellowships at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

in 2005 with Samia J. Khoury in collaboration and guidance from Evan Y. Snyder and Christopher A. Walsh in stem cell biology and neuroimmunology, later that year joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School as an instructor in neurology. He trained at the

Ann Romney Ann Lois Romney ( Davies; born April 16, 1949) is an American author and philanthropist. She is married to politician and businessman Mitt Romney. From 2003 to 2007, Romney was First Lady of Massachusetts during her husband's tenure as governor ...

Center for Neurologic Diseases at the

Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH or The Brigham) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two ...

. Here, he studied the

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

of neural stem cells (NSCs) and neuroimmunology. As a faculty at

, and affiliate faculty of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), he established novel techniques in imaging to study the immunology of neural stem cells and microglia that lead to the discovery of the mechanisms of migration of Neural stem cells in

Stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

and the alteration of neural stem cells self-renewal capacity in models of Multiple sclerosis by

microglia Microglia are a type of glia, glial cell located throughout the brain and spinal cord of the central nervous system (CNS). Microglia account for about around 5–10% of cells found within the brain. As the resident macrophage cells, they act as t ...

activation. Imitola has authored more than 100 publications, abstracts, and book chapters in scholarly journals. His discovery of the molecular mechanisms of neural stem cells to CNS injury have been replicated by additional groups. Imitola is highly cited for his work in neural stem cells migration.

Academic career

The mechanisms of how neural stem cells migrate to injury are critical to understanding repair. The role of the chemokines in the migration of stem cells was demonstrated in 1997 when it was discovered that bone marrow stem cells could migrate to the chemokine SDF-1 alpha. However, the migration of stem cells in the brain to injury was less understood. In 2004, Imitola and his colleagues demonstrated an inflammation-dependent mechanism for the responses of NSCs to CNS injury by astrocytes. They showed that the inflammatory chemokine

Stromal cell-derived factor 1 The stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1), also known as C-X-C motif chemokine 12 (CXCL12), is a chemokine protein that in humans is encoded by the ''CXCL12'' gene on chromosome 10. It is ubiquitously expressed in many tissues and cell types. S ...

alpha released by astrocytes during stroke was responsible for the directed

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

of human and mouse NSCs to areas of injury in mice, creating Injury induced stem cell niches elucidated by reporter stem cells, as proposed by Professor Evan Y. Snyder to denote the regenerative (micro-environments) areas created after CNS damage and the ability to visualize these areas by using stem cells expressing reporter genes (i.e. ''LacZ''). This discovery paved the way for the study of the responses of endogenous neural stem cell migration in regeneration in other neurological diseases. The work has been extensively cited and reproduced by multiple labs, and firmly established

chemokines Chemokines (), or chemotactic cytokines, are a family of small cytokines or signaling proteins secreted by cells that induce directional movement of leukocytes, as well as other cell types, including endothelial and epithelial cells. In addit ...

as important modulators of migration of neural stem cells not only in CNS

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

but also

repair The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installat ...

. Imitola has received awards for his research in stem cells including the John N. Whitaker, MD Award for Multiple Sclerosis research

References

External links

Jaime Imitola at Google ScholarHarvard Stem Cell InstituteHarvard catalyst

Marquis

Awards, Honors & Grants

John N. Whitaker, MD (1940-2001)
''jamanetwork.com.'' Retrieved 2024-08-30.
Faculty Directory. Jaime Imitola, M.D.
''facultydirectory.uchc.edu.'' Retrieved 2024-08-30. {{DEFAULTSORT:Imitola, Jaime American neuroscientists Colombian neuroscientists Harvard University faculty Living people Stem cell researchers American geneticists Year of birth missing (living people) American people of Colombian descent