Russell Scott Ray, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Positions
- Associate Professor
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Department of Neuroscience
ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ of Medicine
- McNair Scholar
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ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ of Medicine
- Associate Professor
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Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ of Medicine
- Associate Professor
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Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ of Medicine
- Associate Professor
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Program in Developmental Biology
ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ of Medicine
- Faculty Senator
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ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ of Medicine
Addresses
- BCM-Taub Medical Research Bldg (Office)
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Room: BCMS-T703
Houston, TX, 77030
United States
Education
- Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard Medical School
- 05/2008 - Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- PhD from University Of Utah
- 01/2008 - Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
- BA from Southern Oregon University
- 01/1999 - Ashland, Oregon, United States
- Research Fellowship at Instituto Cajal - CSIC
- Madrid, Spain
- Fellowship at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
- Tübingen, Germany
Honors & Awards
- March of Dimes Basil O'Connor Fellowship
- Parker B. Francis Fellowship
- McNair Scholar in Neuroscience
- Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award
- American Physiological Society New Investigator Award
- Norton Rose Fulbright Faculty Excellence Award
Professional Interests
- We study the molecular and genetic events that give rise to functional neural circuits and how those events may play a role in neurological disorders
Professional Statement
The overarching goal of our laboratory is to understand how the myriad of neurons and glia in our brain are organized into circuits that keep us alive and enable complex behaviors that may be disrupted in diseases ranging from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the leading cause of neonate death in the United States, to panic disorder, the most common mental illness in the United States. On the surface, SIDS and panic disorder may have little in common. However, there is indeed a likely nexus in the neural control of breathing. In SIDS, defined as the death of an infant for which no cause of death can be determined, the current thinking is that in many cases there are small-unseen abnormalities in brain regions that regulate breathing, leaving the infant vulnerable. Conversely, a connection between breathing and anxiety has long been appreciated, such that breathing challenges are used in clinical diagnostic tests for panic disorder and this relationship is best appreciated in our common perception of a panic attack where a person breaths too much and risks passing out. Unfortunately, little is known about these critical breathing circuits that are also important in spinal cord injuries where the number one desire for quadriplegic patients is to breath on their own, or in neuro-degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS, where the ultimate cause of death is typically respiratory arrest. Thus, we aim to define the neural pathways important in breathing to understand how they may be targeted for therapeutic interventions and predicative diagnostic tests.
Selected Publications
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Embryonic hindbrain patterning genes delineate distinct cardio-respiratory and metabolic homeostatic populations in the adult. " Scientific Reports. 2017 ;
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Sun. JJ, Ray, RS. " " Biology Open. 2017 ;
Pubmed PMID: . -
Ray RS, Corcoran AE, Brust RD, Kim JC, Richerson GB, Nattie E, Dymecki SM. " " Science. 2011 Jul 29; 333 (6042) : 637-42.
Pubmed PMID: . -
Sun JJ, Nanu R, Ray RS. " " J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods. ;
Pubmed PMID: .
Memberships
- International Society for the Study and Prevention of Perinatal and Infant Death
- American Heart Association
- Society for Developmental Biology
- American Physiological Society
- Society for Neuroscience
- International Society for the Advancement of Respiratory Psychophysiology
Funding
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Noradrenergic mechanisms in breathing and respiratory pathophysiologies
#R01HL130249 - $1,911,445.00
- Grant funding from National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
- R01 Renewal of
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An in vivo screen for genes underlying protective neonate respiratory reflexes to identify potential contributors to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and other congenital respiratory pathophysiologies
#R01HL161142 - $2,317,877.00
- Grant funding from National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
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Rapid production and dissemination of intersectional genetic alleles for the study of nervous system circuit development and function in the mouse
- $250,000.00
- Office of the Director, National Institutes Of Health
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A modular SARS-CoV-2 infection model for mapping cell specific cytopathology and neuro-cardiorespiratory effects in COVID-19 etiology
#NA - $45,000.00
- Grant funding from ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ of Medicine
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