Nathan J. Hellyer, Ph.D.

My research interests address basic mechanisms regulating neuromuscular adaptations. In particular, I study the effect of nerve-derived factors and how they communicate growth, development, and repair signals to muscle. Nerve-derived signaling molecules called neuregulins are one family of growth factors that communicate regulatory information between nerves and muscles. Nervous system injuries, such as spinal cord injury or denervation, disrupt normal neuromuscular communications, in this case between nerve-derived neuregulins and muscle. Therefore, I am interested in the understanding how neuregulin signaling fundamentally regulates muscle growth, development and repair to gain insight for novel therapies to restore neuromuscular communication and signaling following nervous system injury.