Trent Watkins, PhD
Assistant Professor
Neurology
School of Medicine

These responses include programs that can, in the case of the peripheral nervous system (PNS), enable remarkable axon regeneration and recovery of function. In the central nervous system (CNS), however, these same programs typically fail to overcome barriers to regeneration and instead can become major drivers of neurodegeneration. Understanding and controlling these stress signaling pathways and transcriptional programs therefore may generate opportunities for both neuroprotection and improved repair.

The Watkins Lab relocated in 2023 from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston to the Division of Neuroimmunology and Glial Biology at UCSF. This move offers promising new opportunities for collaborative studies to understand the interplay among intrinsic neuronal stress responses, neuroinflammation, and myelin repair.

• Remyelination protects neurons from DLK-mediated neurodegeneration.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2023 Duncan GJ, Ingram SD, Emberley K, Hill J, Cordano C, Abdelhak A, McCane M, Jabassini N, Ananth K, Ferrara SJ, Stedelin B, Sivyer B, Aicher SA, Scanlan T, Watkins TA, Mishra A, Nelson J, Green AJ, …
• Modeling Alzheimer's disease in primary neurons reveals DNA damage response coupled with MAPK-DLK signaling in wild-type tau-induced neurodegeneration.
  Research square 2023 Li S, Roy ER, Wang Y, Watkins T, Cao W
• DLK-dependent mitochondrial fission drives axon degeneration and neuronal cell death.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2023 Jorge GJ, Nebiyou M, Alkaslasi MR, Somasundaran P, Slavutsky AL, Ward ME, Watkins TA, Le Pichon CE
• Myelinating cocultures of purified oligodendrocyte lineage cells and retinal ganglion cells.
  Cold Spring Harbor protocols 2014 Watkins TA, Scholze AR
• Myelinating cocultures of rat retinal ganglion cell reaggregates and optic nerve oligodendrocyte precursor cells.
  Cold Spring Harbor protocols 2014 Watkins TA, Scholze AR
• JNK-mediated phosphorylation of DLK suppresses its ubiquitination to promote neuronal apoptosis.
  The Journal of cell biology 2013 Huntwork-Rodriguez S, Wang B, Watkins T, Ghosh AS, Pozniak CD, Bustos D, Newton K, Kirkpatrick DS, Lewcock JW
• DLK initiates a transcriptional program that couples apoptotic and regenerative responses to axonal injury.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2013 Watkins TA, Wang B, Huntwork-Rodriguez S, Yang J, Jiang Z, Eastham-Anderson J, Modrusan Z, Kaminker JS, Tessier-Lavigne M, Lewcock JW
• ZFP191 is required by oligodendrocytes for CNS myelination.
  Genes & development 2010 Howng SY, Avila RL, Emery B, Traka M, Lin W, Watkins T, Cook S, Bronson R, Davisson M, Barres BA, Popko B
• Differential clustering of Caspr by oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells.
  Journal of neuroscience research 2009 Eisenbach M, Kartvelishvily E, Eshed-Eisenbach Y, Watkins T, Sorensen A, Thomson C, Ranscht B, Barnett SC, Brophy P, Peles E
• Myelin gene regulatory factor is a critical transcriptional regulator required for CNS myelination.
  Cell 2009 Emery B, Agalliu D, Cahoy JD, Watkins TA, Dugas JC, Mulinyawe SB, Ibrahim A, Ligon KL, Rowitch DH, Barres BA
• Distinct stages of myelination regulated by gamma-secretase and astrocytes in a rapidly myelinating CNS coculture system.
  Neuron 2008 Watkins TA, Emery B, Mulinyawe S, Barres BA
• NGF controls axonal receptivity to myelination by Schwann cells or oligodendrocytes.
  Neuron 2004 Chan JR, Watkins TA, Cosgaya JM, Zhang C, Chen L, Reichardt LF, Shooter EM, Barres BA
• Integrins as developmental switches.
  Nature cell biology 2002 Watkins TA, Barres BA
• Nerve regeneration: regrowth stumped by shared receptor.
  Current biology : CB 2002 Watkins TA, Barres BA
• Combination of gene delivery and DNA vaccination to protect from and reverse Th1 autoimmune disease via deviation to the Th2 pathway.
  Immunity 2001 Garren H, Ruiz PJ, Watkins TA, Fontoura P, Nguyen LT, Estline ER, Hirschberg DL, Steinman L
• Regulatory mechanisms of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase.
  Molecular and cellular biochemistry 1999 Alvarez-Gonzalez R, Watkins TA, Gill PK, Reed JL, Mendoza-Alvarez H