My lab investigates the roles of early inflammation in tissue damage and wound healing following spinal cord injury. We employ genetic and pharmacological methods to study how immune receptors (e.g. L-selection) and signaling pathways alter the accumulation and activation of early arriving immune cells, predominantly neutrophils. We are also developing new three-dimensional imaging strategies to characterize inflammation and tissue damage after spinal cord injury. Utilizing tissue clearing techniques and lightsheet microscopy, we can visualize the spatiotemporal effects of spinal cord injury in a manner previously unachievable with traditional imaging modalities. With the knowledge gained from these studies, we aim to develop novel neuroprotective strategies to reduce inflammatory damage and improve long-term recovery for the spinal cord injured patient.

1. Gibbs, HC, Mota, SM, Hart, NA, Min, SW, Vernino, AO, Pritchard, AL et al.. Navigating the Light-Sheet Image Analysis Software Landscape: Concepts for Driving Cohesion From Data Acquisition to Analysis. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021;9 :739079. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.739079. PubMed PMID:34858975 PubMed Central PMC8631767.
2. McCreedy, DA, Jalufka, FL, Platt, ME, Min, SW, Kirchhoff, MA, Pritchard, AL et al.. Passive Clearing and 3D Lightsheet Imaging of the Intact and Injured Spinal Cord in Mice. Front Cell Neurosci. 2021;15 :684792. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2021.684792. PubMed PMID:34408627 PubMed Central PMC8366232.
3. Massopust, RT, Lee, YI, Pritchard, AL, Nguyen, VM, McCreedy, DA, Thompson, WJ et al.. Lifetime analysis of mdx skeletal muscle reveals a progressive pathology that leads to myofiber loss. Sci Rep. 2020;10 (1):17248. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-74192-9. PubMed PMID:33057110 PubMed Central PMC7560899.
4. Isaacson, D, McCreedy, D, Calvert, M, Shen, J, Sinclair, A, Cao, M et al.. Imaging the developing human external and internal urogenital organs with light sheet fluorescence microscopy. Differentiation. ;111 :12-21. doi: 10.1016/j.diff.2019.09.006. PubMed PMID:31634681 .
5. Cappenberg, A, Margraf, A, Thomas, K, Bardel, B, McCreedy, DA, Van Marck, V et al.. L-selectin shedding affects bacterial clearance in the lung: a new regulatory pathway for integrin outside-in signaling. Blood. 2019;134 (17):1445-1457. doi: 10.1182/blood.2019000685. PubMed PMID:31366620 PubMed Central PMC6839956.
6. Isaacson, D, Shen, J, Overland, M, Li, Y, Sinclair, A, Cao, M et al.. Three-dimensional imaging of the developing human fetal urogenital-genital tract: Indifferent stage to male and female differentiation. Differentiation. ;103 :14-23. doi: 10.1016/j.diff.2018.09.003. PubMed PMID:30262218 PubMed Central PMC6234091.
7. McCreedy, DA, Lee, S, Sontag, CJ, Weinstein, P, Olivas, AD, Martinez, AF et al.. Early Targeting of L-Selectin on Leukocytes Promotes Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury, Implicating Novel Mechanisms of Pathogenesis. eNeuro. ;5 (4):. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0101-18.2018. PubMed PMID:30225356 PubMed Central PMC6140118.
8. Isaacson, D, Shen, J, McCreedy, D, Calvert, M, McDevitt, T, Cunha, G et al.. Lightsheet fluorescence microscopy of branching human fetal kidney. Kidney Int. 2018;93 (2):525. doi: 10.1016/j.kint.2017.09.010. PubMed PMID:29389399 PubMed Central PMC5797994.
9. Isaacson, D, Shen, J, McCreedy, D, Calvert, M, Cunha, G, Baskin, L et al.. Dichotomous Branching of Human Fetal Lung Demonstrated with Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2017;196 (11):1476-1477. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201706-1269IM. PubMed PMID:28933913 PubMed Central PMC5736980.
10. Butts, JC, McCreedy, DA, Martinez-Vargas, JA, Mendoza-Camacho, FN, Hookway, TA, Gifford, CA et al.. Differentiation of V2a interneurons from human pluripotent stem cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017;114 (19):4969-4974. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1608254114. PubMed PMID:28438991 PubMed Central PMC5441696.