Valina L. Dawson PhD

Dawson was trained as a Toxicologist and Pharmacologist. Her postdoctoral studies of NMDA receptor physiology lead to an interest in NMDA receptor mediated cell death. Her research was the first to identify nitric oxide (NO) as a key calcium-dependent molecule that mediates glutamate neurotoxicity.

She has continued to probe the glutamate neurotoxicity program of cell death identifying a pivotal role for poly(ADP-Ribose) Polymerase (PARP). Recent work has revealed a new interaction between the nucleus and activation of PARP by neurotoxic NO production and mitochondrial release of apoptosis inducing factor, in the integration of the excitotoxic death signal.