Moones Heidari, PhD
Credentials: Research Associate, Department of Medical Sciences
Education:
BSc 2005, Biology, Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, Iran
MSc 2009, Molecular Genetics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
PhD 2016, Medical Genetics, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia
Research Interests:
Dr. Heidari is currently a postdoctoral research associate in Dr. Ian Duncan’s lab at UW-Madison. In her current project, she has been studying molecular and cellular pathology resembling symptoms of multiple sclerosis in a unique cat model, where feeding irradiated food causes extensive demyelination of the CNS, especially the optic nerve. The optic nerve of this model showed complete remyelination and structural recovery after returning to a normal diet. In collaboration with Dr. Gill McLellan’s lab and Dr. Jim Verhoeve, they have shown that this extensive remyelination results in near to normal visual evoked potentials. Further RNAseq analysis will be performed to find the gene expression changes leading to remyelination.