Benowitz Lab

Injury to the central nervous system (CNS: brain, spinal cord, retina) can lead to devastating losses of sensory, motor, autonomic and/or cognitive function depending on the location and extent of damage. These losses are due to the inability of neurons to regenerate nerve fibers (axons) within the CNS, the limited ability of undamaged neurons to form compensatory connections, and the low capacity of the CNS to replace lost neurons.The goals of our lab are to discover mechanisms that enable neurons to survive and regrow their connections after injury and to apply insights from this work to improve functional recovery. Read more