Leonard Levin
Office Phone: 514-252-3400 ext. 4462
Fax: 514-251-7094
Lab Phone: 514-252-3400 ext. 7250
leonard.levin@umontreal.ca
Research Axis Vision Health
Research Unit Pathophysiological Mechanisms
TITLE
- Full Professor
- Holder of the Canada Research Chair in Ophtalmology and Vision Sciences
EDUCATION
- Ph.D., Department of Neurobiology, Harvard University; Thesis: Immune Functions of Astrocytes; Thesis Advisor: Howard L. Weiner, M.D (1988).
- M.D., Harvard Medical School and Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (1988).
- Simmons Lessell and Joseph Rizzo Fellowship in Neuroophthalmology, preceptors), Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, MA (1992).
DISTINCTIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
- Grass Foundation Fellowship (1983).
- NATO Fellowship for the Advanced Study Institute (1984).
- Heed Foundation Fellowship (1992-93).
- Travel Fellowship, National Eye Institute (1993).
- Rudin Prize paper, co-author (1996).
- Young Investigator Award, North American Neuroophthalmology Society (1997).
- Dolly Green Special Scholar Award, Research to Prevent Blindness (1997).
- Sam and Bertha Brochstein Award, Retina Research Foundation (1997).
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship. (1999).
- Marjorie W. Margolin Prize, Retina Research Foundation (2003).
- Sam and Bertha Brochstein Award, Retina Research Foundation (2004).
RESEARCH TEAM
- Maria-Magdalena Catrinescu, research assistant
- Akiyasu Kanamori, postdoctorate
- Rachel Beaubien, M.Sc.
- Wesley Chan, M.Sc.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Intracellular signaling mechanisms of retinal cell death following axonal damage – Glaucoma and other optic neuropathies;
- Neuroprotection of retinal neurons in optic neuropathy and AMD;
- Stem cell and retinal ganglion cell differentiation.
Selected papers
Kanamori A, Catrinescu M, Beaubien R, Traistaru M, Levin LA. In vivo imaging of retinal ganglion cell axons within the nerve fiber layer. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, published online September 24, 2009.
Scott CJ, Seidler EA, Levin LA. Cell-autonomous generation of mitochondrial superoxide is a signal for cell death in differentiated neuronal precursor cells. Brain Res, published online October 9, 2009.
Seidler EA, Lieven CJ, Thompson AF, Levin LA. Effectiveness of novel borane-phosphine complexes in inhibiting cell death depends on the source of superoxide production induced by blockade of mitochondrial electron transport. ACS Chem Neurosci, published online November 17, 2009.
Jansonius NM, Nevalainen J, Selig B, Zangwill LM, Sample PA, Budde WM, Jonas JB, Lagréze WA, Airaksinen PJ, Vonthein R, Levin LA, Paetzold J, Schiefer U. A mathematical description of nerve fiber trajectories and their variability in the human retina. Vision Res, 49:2157-2163, 2009.
Hoegger MJ, Lieven CJ, Levin LA. Differential production of superoxide by neuronal mitochondria. BMC Neurosci, 9:4, 2008.
Levin LA, Danesh-Meyer H. Hypothesis: A venous etiology for nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. Arch Ophthalmol, 126:1582-1585, 2008.
Schwechter BR, Millet LE, Levin LA. Histone deacetylase inhibition-mediated differentiation of RGC-5 cells and interaction with survival. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 48:2845-2857, 2007.
Lieven CJ, Millet LE, Hoegger MJ, Levin LA. Induction of axon and dendrite formation during early RGC-5 cell differentiation. Exp Eye Res 85:678-683, 2007.
Levin LA. Mechanisms of retinal ganglion specific-cell death in Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy. Trans Am Ophthalmol Soc, 105:379-391, 2007.
Vrabec JP, Levin LA. The neurobiology of cell death in glaucoma. Eye, 21:S11-14, 2007.
Complete list of Dr Levin's publications (PubMed)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Collaborator
- Adriana DiPolo, University of Montreal
- Santiago Costantino, Ph.D.
Grants
- Canada Research Chair in Ophtalmology and Vision Sciences
- CIHR
- National Eye Institute (USA)
- CFI