Comprehensive overview of metal neurotoxicity

Michael Aschner is the Gray E. B. Stahlman Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine as well as a Senior Investigator at the Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. Dr Aschner’s research group has a particular interest in the neurobiology and physiology of astrocytes and the signaling mechanisms associated with central nervous system injury. Dr Aschner’s laboratory studies metal uptake and distribution in the brain, investigating the mechanisms of transport of methylmercury and manganese across the capillaries of the blood–brain barrier. His research utilizes various experimental models (C. elegans, tissue cultures and rodents) to understand the acute toxicity of manganese deposition in the brains of human neonates.