Faculty Profile

Stuart Tobet

August 2009

When we think of migration, we often imagine geese flying south to escape winter's cold, Monarch butterflies flying north for the summer from Mexico, and salmon swimming upstream to spawn. We don't often think of cells migrating within the organs of our bodies. But the migration of cells – particularly neuronal cells – is critically important to the normal functioning of the human nervous system. Cellular migration and unlocking the cellular and molecular reasons behind behavior and disease are Professor Stuart Tobet's passion.

Tobet's work advances the understanding of structures in the brain that control neuroendrocrine functions. These structures are important because they regulate fundamental aspects of physiology and behaviors and are susceptible to several diseases and syndromes. Tobet, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, studies the movements of neuronal cells into groups and what affects their migration. He is particularly focused on following the migratory behavior of cells that might contribute to sex differences in structure or function. He also investigates the differences between the two sexes in the ability to protect and recover from internal and external assaults including brain injuries that occur during development or the harmful influences of environmental toxicants. His laboratory's live video microscopy allowed us to discover the first direct evidence of sex differences in neuronal migration.

Tobet's work is critical to understanding ways to prevent and treat rare genetic conditions that affect structures that impact neuroendocrine function such as Prader-Willi or Kallmann's syndrome. Kallmann's syndrome is related to a small peptide called gonadotropin-releasing hormone called GnRH.The disorder arises when GnRH neurons in a developing fetus fail to migrate from their site of origin in the nose into the basal forebrain. The syndrome is usually inherited and, for some forms, affects more males than females. Migration failure causes a diminished or non-existent sense of smell and although GnRH activity is low during childhood, as young adults, the failure of these neurons to migrate in infancy can lead to unsuccessful reproductive development and function. Other disorders of neuronal migration in the neuroendocrine brain during development may lead to a spectrum of syndromes where function in adulthood may be compromised depending upon events during a persons lifetime. These syndromes may lead to a diverse set of problems ranging from eating disorders to schizophrenia or major depressive disorder.

As science has become more and more interdisciplinary, Tobet's research collaborations at CSU have expanded to fellow faculty in engineering, chemistry, mathematics and computer science.  Collaborations with Drs. Tom Chen in electrical engineering and Chuck Henry in chemistry are leading to the creation of new technologies to visualize and measure molecules that influence migration in tissue slices. Collaboration with Drs. Vakhtang Putkaradze in mathematics and Chuck Anderson in computer science are creating new ways to model and analyze cell motions.