Clifford Woolf

Clifford Woolf, MB, BCh, PhD

Blackfan Diamond Chair in Neuroscience Research; Director, F.M. Kirby Program in Neurobiology Center; Co-director, Gene Editing and Analysis Core, IDDRC, Boston Children’s Hospital; Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School.

Research Focus

Pain formation of neural circuits, regeneration.

Brief Research Description

Dr. Woolf’s research group is devoted to investigating the way in which functional, chemical and structural plasticity of neurons contributes to adaptive and maladaptive function of the mammalian nervous system. The major efforts are devoted to the study of pain, the formation of neural circuits during development, and failure of regeneration of the adult CNS. This laboratory has established several functional and comparative genomic strategies using gain and loss of function approaches to screen for those genes involved in neuronal development, pain and regeneration. The group works closely with a wide number of academic groups and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry to identify and validate molecular targets for novel analgesics and axonal growth determinants. Training opportunities in this laboratory include molecular and cell biology, genetics, bioinformatics, synaptic electrophysiology, neuroanatomy, integrative systems biology and behavior.

Key Publications (PMCIDs)

Novel charged sodium and calcium channel inhibitor active against neurogenic inflammation.
Lee S, Jo S, Talbot S, Zhang HB, Kotoda M, Andrews NA, Puopolo M, Liu PW, Jacquemont T, Pascal M, Heckman LM, Jain A, Lee J, Woolf CJ, Bean BP.
Elife. 2019 Nov 25;8:e48118. doi: 10.7554/eLife.48118. PMID: 31765298; PMCID: PMC6877086.

Diltiazem Promotes Regenerative Axon Growth.
Huebner EA, Budel S, Jiang Z, Omura T, Ho TS, Barrett L, Merkel JS, Pereira LM, Andrews NA, Wang X, Singh B, Kapur K, Costigan M, Strittmatter SM, Woolf CJ.
Mol Neurobiol 2019;56(6):3948-57. PMCID: PMC6424671

Neuronal-Specific TUBB3 Is Not Required for Normal Neuronal Function but Is Essential for Timely Axon Regeneration.
Latremoliere A, Cheng L, DeLisle M, Wu C, Chew S, Hutchinson EB, Sheridan A, Alexandre C, Latremoliere F, Sheu SH, Golidy S, Omura T, Huebner EA, Fan Y, Whitman MC, Nguyen E, Hermawan C, Pierpaoli C, Tischfield MA, Woolf CJ, Engle EC.
Cell Rep 2018;24(7):1865-79 e9. PMCID: PMC6155462

Purkinje cells derived from TSC patients display hypoexcitability and synaptic deficits associated with reduced FMRP levels and reversed by rapamycin.
Sundberg M, Tochitsky I, Buchholz DE, Winden K, Kujala V, Kapur K, Cataltepe D, Turner D, Han MJ, Woolf CJ, Hatten ME, Sahin M.
Mol Psychiatry 2018;23(11):2167-83. PMCID: PMC6093816

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