Alexandre E. Medina de Jesus, DSci

NAME: Alexandre E. Medina

POSITION TITLE: Associate Professor

EDUCATION/TRAINING 

A. Positions and Honors

Professional positions

1999-2000, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physiology, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil.

2001-2002,  Post Doctoral Fellow, Dept. of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

2003-2005, Research Associate, Dept. of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

2005-2012- Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. (promoted to Associate Professor with tenure on may 2012)

2012-current- Associate Professor, Dept of Pediatrics, University of Maryland, School of Medicine.

Reviewing activities- Journals (last 5 years)

Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.; PNAS; Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior.

Journal of Neuroscience; Cerebral Cortex, Alcohol Clin Exp Ther; Alcohol; Frontiers in Pediatrics.

Service (last 5 years)

• Current member of the School of Medicine Council

• Standing member of NAL study section (2018-2022)

• Ad Hoc reviewer for special emphasis panels: NIH; ZRG1 IFCN-C (03) M Special emphasis panel.; NIH; ZRG1 IFCN-C (02) M Member Conflict SEP: Alcohol, Neurotoxicology and Drug

• President of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Study Group (FASDsg.org): 2015-2016

B.        Contributions to Science

My publication list available on:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/alexandre.medina.1/bibliography/41140533/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending

Multisensory processing

The following studies show our expertise in evaluate multisensory integration (MSI) in the ferret. Together with Alex Meredith we were one of the first to describe subthreshold multisensory integration (Allman et al. 2008). We also showed that developmental alcohol exposure alters functional connectivity (Tang et al. 2018) and MSI (Keum et al. 2023) in the ferret. More recently we described the development of MSI in the ferret (Medina et al. 2023).

1. Medina, A.E., Foxworthy, W.A., Keum, D. & Meredith, M.A. (2023) Development of multisensory processing in ferret parietal cortex. Eur J Neurosci. 58(5):3226-3238.
2. Keum, D., Pultorak, K., Meredith, M.A. & Medina, A.E. (2023) Effects of developmental alcohol exposure on cortical multisensory integration. Eur J Neurosci 57(5):784-795
3. Tang, S., Xu, S., Gullapalli, R.P. & Medina, A.E. (2018) Effects of early alcohol exposure on functional organization and microstructure of a visual-tactile integrative circuit. Alcohol Clin Exp Ther 42, 727-734.

4. Allman BL, Bittencourt-Navarrete RE, Keniston LP, Medina AE, Wang MY, Meredith MA. (2008) Do cross-modal projections always result in multisensory integration? Cereb Cortex. 2008 Sep;18(9):2066-76.

Ferret model of FASD

Our lab developed a model of FASD by exposing ferrets between postnatal day 10 (P10) to P30 a period roughly similar to the third trimester of human gestation. Using this model, we showed that developmental alcohol exposure leads to profound deficits of plasticity, neuronal organization, connectivity, and processing in the cortical visual system.

1. Trindade P, Hampton B, Manhães AC, Medina AE. (2016) Developmental alcohol exposure leads to a persistent change on astrocyte secretome. J Neurochem. 2016 Jun;137(5):730-43.

2. Paul AP, Pohl-Guimaraes F, Krahe TE, Filgueiras CC, Lantz CL, Colello RJ, Wang W, Medina AE. (2010) Overexpression of serum response factor restores ocular dominance plasticity in a model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. J Neurosci. 2010 Feb 17;30(7):2513-20.

3. Medina, A.E., Krahe, T.E. &. Ramoa, A.S. (2006) Restoration of Neuronal Plasticity by a phosphodiesterase Type 1 Inhibitor in a model of Fetal Alcohol Exposure. Neurosci., 26(3):1057-1060.

4. Medina, A.E., Krahe, T.E., Coppola, D.M. & Ramoa, A.S. (2003) Neonatal Alcohol Exposure Induces Long-Lasting Impairment of Visual Cortical Plasticity in Ferrets J Neurosci 23 (31) 10002-12

Mechanisms of visual cortex plasticity.

 We showed that activation of the NMDA receptor is needed for recovery of this function. Recently we conducted experiments showing that the astrocyte secreted protein hevin, as well as transcription factors CREB, SRF and MEF2 are essential for ocular dominance plasticity. Recently we showed that ocular dominance plasticity and the expression of the plasticity-related gene Arc requires triple phosphorylation of CREB.

1. Pulimood, NS, Contreras, M., Pruitt, ME, Tarasiewicz, A., Medina AE. (2021). Phosphorylation of CREB at Serine 142 and 143 is essential for visual cortex plasticity eNeuro 8(5):ENEURO.0217-21.2021. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0217-21.2021.
2. Pulimood NS, Rodrigues WDS Junior, Atkinson DA, Mooney SM, Medina AE. (2017) The Role of CREB, SRF, and MEF2 in Activity-Dependent Neuronal Plasticity in the Visual Cortex.  J Neurosci. 37(28):6628-6637.
3. Singh, S.K.; Stogsdill, J.A.; Pulimood, N.; Dingsdale, H.; Kim, Y.H.; Pilaz, L.J.; Kim, I.H.; Manhaes, A.C.; Rodrigues-Junior, W.S.; Pamukcu, A.; Enustun, E.; Ertuz, Z.; Peter Scheiffele. P; Soderling, S.; Silver, D.L.; Ji, R.R.; Medina, A.E. and Eroglu, C. (2016) Astrocytes Assemble Thalamocortical Synapses by Bridging Neurexin-1α and Neuroligin-1 via Hevin. Cell 164(1-2):183-96. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.11.034.
4. Krahe, T.E. & Medina, A.E. (2010) Activation of NMDA receptors is necessary for the recovery of cortical binocularity. J Neurophysiol 103:2700-2706.

Research with human subjects:

As a basic scientist in a clinical department, I have collaborated in many studies using human subjects. Many of these studies are directly related to my studies using animal models, in a bench to bedside approach.

1. Jiang L, El-Metwally D, Sours Rhodes C, Zhuo J, Almardawi R, Medina AE, Wang L, Gullapalli RP, Raghavan P. (2022) Alterations in motor functional connectivity in Neonatal Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy Brain Inj. Jan 28;36(2):287-294. doi: 10.1080/02699052.2022.2034041. Epub 2022 Feb 3. PMID: 35113755
2. Meador KJ, Leeman-Markowski B, Medina AE, Illamola SM, Seliger J, Novak G, Lin C, Ivanisevic M, Razavi B, Marino S, Boyd A, Loring DW. (2021) Vinpocetine, Cognition and Epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 119:107988. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.107988.
3. Sours C, Raghavan P, Medina AE, Roys S, Jiang L, Zhuo J & Gullapalli RP (2017) Structural and Functional Integrity of the Intraparietal Sulcus in Moderate and Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Neurotrauma. (2017) Apr 1;34(7):1473-1481.
4. Sours C, Raghavan P, Foxworthy WA, Meredith MA, El Metwally D, Zhuo J, Gilmore JH, & Medina AE*, Gullapalli RP* (2017) Cortical multisensory connectivity is present near birth in humans. Brain Imaging Behav. 2017 Aug;11(4):1207-1213. doi: 10.1007/s11682-016-9586-6

Electrophysiology, Fetal Alcohol spectrum disorders, development, neuroscience, brain, visual cortex, vision, transcription factors, neuronal plasticity,

Paul A., Pohl-Guimaraes F, Krahe T.E., Filgueiras C.C., Lantz Cl, Colello R.J., Wang W., Medina, A.E. (2010) Overexpression of serum response factor restores ocular dominance plasticity in a model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. J. Neurosci., 30(7):2513-20

Singh, S.K.; Stogsdill, J.A.; Pulimood, N.; Dingsdale, H.; Kim, Y.H.; Pilaz, L.J.; Kim, I.H.; Manhaes, A.C.; Rodrigues-Junior, W.S.; Pamukcu, A.; Enustun, E.; Ertuz, Z.; Peter Scheiffele. P; Soderling, S.; Silver, D.L.; Ji, R.R.; Medina, A.E. and Eroglu, C. (2016) Astrocytes Assemble Thalamocortical Synapses by Bridging Neurexin-1α and Neuroligin-1 via Hevin. Cell 164(1-2):183-96. 

Pulimood NS, Rodrigues WDS Junior, Atkinson DA, Mooney SM, Medina AE.  (2017) The Role of CREB, SRF, and MEF2 in Activity-Dependent Neuronal Plasticity in the Visual Cortex. J Neurosci. 37 (28):6628-6637.

Keum D, Pultorak K, Meredith MA, Medina AE. (2023) Effects of developmental alcohol exposure on cortical multisensory integration. Eur J Neurosci. 57(5):784-795.

Medina, A.E., Foxworthy, W.A., Keum, D. & Meredith, M.A. (2023) Development of multisensory processing in ferret parietal cortex. Eur J Neurosci.  58(5):3226-3238.