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Dr. Zhigang He, PhD, BM, is a Professor of Neurology and Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School
Dr. He is interested in restoring lost function after spinal cord injury or other types of CNS injuries by regenerating severed axons. Recent studies by He and his team have led to the development of novel and effective genetic methods (deletion of PTEN and/or SOCS3) for re-activating neuronal regenerative capacity, thereby allowing for robust regenerative growth after injury, and representing a major achievement in the first step of neural repair. Work is focused on how regenerating axons find their functional targets and synapse, and if other strategies, such as task-specific training, can enhance recovery after injury of the optic nerve or spinal cord.