Overview

Ellen Townes-Anderson is a professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Neurosciences at Rutgers
University. She received her PhD in 1980 from Boston University Medical School, did her postdoctoral work at Harvard
Medical School, and then joined the faculty at Cornell University (Weill) Medical College. She was tenured at CUMC
before moving to New Jersey Medical School in 1995.

She teaches medical and graduate students, leads a research program, and serves in administration. Currently she is
Director of Research Development and Initiatives. Her research funding has come primarily from the NIH and DoD and
focuses on injury to the retina and cures for blindness.

Education

PHD, 1980, Boston University School of Medicine
MA, 1971, University of California at Berkeley
BA, 1968, Connecticut College

Curriculum Vitae

View CV

Relevant Publications

Townes-Anderson, E. and N. Zhang. Synaptic plasticity and structural remodeling of rod and cone cells. In: Plasticity in the Visual System: From Genes to Circuits, eds. R. Pinaud, L.A. Tremere and P. De Weerd , Springer/Kluwer Academic Press, pgs 13-31, 2006

Wang, J-F. Zarbin, M., Sugino, I., Whitehead, I. and E.Townes-Anderson. RhoA signaling and synaptic damage occur within hours in a live pig model of a CNS injury, retinal detachment. I.O.V.S 57:3892-3906, 2016

Zhang, N., Beuve, A., and E. Townes-Anderson. The NO-cGMP signaling pathway differentially regulates presynaptic structural plasticity in cone and rod cells. J. Neurosci. 25: 2761-2770, 2005

Clarke, R , Hognason, K, Brimacombe, M and E. Townes-Anderson. Cone and rod cells have different target preferences in vitro as revealed by optical tweezers. Mol. Vis. 14:706-720, 2008

Alfinito, P.D. and E. Townes-Anderson. Activation of mislocalized opsin kills rod cells: A novel mechanism for rod cell death in retinal disease. P.N.A.S. 99:5655-5660, 2002

Linton, J.D. plus 28 others, including E. Townes-Anderson. Flow of energy in the outer retina in darkness and in light. P.N.A.S. 107:8599-8604, 2010 Cover photo by E. Townes-Anderson

Fontainhas, A. M. and E. Townes-Anderson. RhoA inactivation prevents photoreceptor axon retraction in an in vitro model of acute retinal detachment. I.O.V.S. 52:579-587, 2011

Kung, F., Wang, J-F, Perez-Castillejos, R. and E. Townes-Anderson. Position along the nasal/temporal plane affects synaptic development by adult photoreceptors, revealed with micropatterning. Intergrative Biology 7:313-323, 2015

Wang, W. and E. Townes-Anderson. Lim kinase, a bi-functional effector in injury-induced structural plasticity of synapses. Neural Regeneration Research 11:1029-32, 2016

Townes-Anderson E, Wang J, Halasz E, Sugino I, Pitler A, Whitehead I, and M Zarbin. Fasudil, a Clinically Used ROCK Inhibitor, Stabilizes Rod Photoreceptor Synapses after Retinal Detachment. Transl Vis Sci Technol. 6(3):22. doi: 10.1167/tvst.6.3.22. eCollection 2017

Areas Of Interest

Neuroscience; synaptogenesis; degeneration / regeneration of adult neurons; signal transduction in neural regeneration; photoreceptors; confocal laser scanning microscopy; image processing; video time-lapse photography; optical tweezing; neural and synaptic plasticity; retinal degeneration;

Protecting neural circuitry after injury