Dr. Tom Lang Returns to UCI

Long-time readers of Spinal Connections will remember Dr. Tom Lane--good friend, fantastic scientist and collaborator who was one of the originalAssociates of RIRC. Dr. Lane’s research is on demyelinating diseases like multiple sclerosis and the role of the immune system in this devastating disorder. He’s also interested in immunological deficits associated with spinal cord injury as well as the role of neuroinflammation in contributing toAlzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Lane came to UCI in 1998 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship in neurovirology at the Scripps Research Institute. He rapidly rose to the rank of Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry and Director of the MS Research Center. At Irvine, Dr. Lane was awarded a National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) Collaborative Center Award and a CIRM Early Translation Award to explore the therapeutic potential of neural stem cells intreating demyelinating diseases.

Dr. Lane has published numerous high impact papers using preclinical mouse models of MS. One of the major clinical features of mouse models of MS is paralysis due to demyelination of spinal cord axons, and Dr. Lane collaborated with Hans Keirstead and Os Steward on several papers related to the spinal cord.

In 2013, Dr. Lane was recruited to the University of Utah where he continued his groundbreaking research. However, his roots at UCI run deep, and so even while at the University of Utah, he continued his collaborations with Os Steward and Dr. Craig Walsh of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Now, we’re delighted to announce that Dr. Tom Lane is returning to UCI as a Professor in theDepartment of Neurobiology and Behavior and RIRC Associate.

Tom will officially move his lab to UCI in January 2020, but we are already plotting an expanded collaboration.

Welcome back Tom!