Education

B.S., Neuroscience, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Davidson College, Davidson, N.C., 2001
Ph.D., Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 2008
2nd year FIRST Postdoctoral Fellow, 2008 - present

Research Statement

I am interested in neural plasticity.  Currently, I examine the role of several neurotrophic factors (NT4/5, BDNF) in promoting the regeneration of neuronal projections (mostly axons) after peripheral nerve injury in rodents.  I also evaluate the effectiveness of different exercise paradigms on enhancing effects of neurotrophic factors on the regeneration of axons after injury.

Publications

Wilhelm, J.C., Rich, M.M., and Wenner, P.A.  (2009).  Compensatory changes in cellular excitability, not synaptic scaling, contribute to homeostatic recovery of embryonic network activity.  Proc Natl Acad Sci USA.  106; 6760-6765.

Wilhelm, J.C. and Wenner, P. (2008).  GABAA transmission is a critical step in the process of triggering homeostatic increases in quantal amplitude.  Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 105,11412-11417.

Thiagarajan, R., Wilhelm, J., Tewolde, T., Li, Y., Rich, M., and Engisch, K.  (2005).  Enhancement of asynchronous and train-evoked exocytosis in bovine adrenal chromaffin cells infected with a replication deficient adenovirus.  Journal of Neurophysiology, 25, 3278-91.

Ramirez, J.J., Caldwell, J.L., Majure, M., Wessner, D.R., Klein, R.L., Meyer, E.M., and King, M.A.  (2003).  Adeno-associated virus vector expressing nerve growth factor enhances cholinergic axonal sprouting after cortical injury in rats.  Journal of Neuroscience. 23:2797-803. 

Emory University School of Medicine
Department of Cell Biology
Whitehead Biomedical Research Bldg., Suite 425
615 Michael Street
Atlanta, GA 30322
Tel: 404.727.0449
Email: jennifer.wilhelm@emory.edu