Jianjin Shi, PhD

Dr. Shi is exploring how cells die in the nervous system in both healthy and disease states. He will focus on a novel and ill-defined form of cell death in the nerve cells and nerve fibers upon injury or stress. Resisting cell death is a hallmark of all cancers. Furthermore, many cancer chemotherapeutic drugs cause the death of nerve cells and nerve fibers, therefore inducing neurological diseases in cancer patients. Using multiple state-of-the-art approaches, he aims to find the unknown components and molecular mechanisms of this type of cell death which will not only identify new drug targets for cancer treatments, but also shed light on how to reduce some side effects of chemotherapy.