Brian Condie
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. (1989) University of California, Berkeley
Phone: 706-542-1431
Email: bcondie@uga.edu

Research Interests
During development, multipotent neural stem cells differentiate into neurons that express specific neurotransmitter phenotypes. This process must be carefully regulated to generate cells with the appropriate neurotransmitter profiles in the correct place and at the right time during development. In addition, the ability of a neuron to make and release a particular neurotransmitter responds to changes in neural activity in the developing and mature brain via transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms. I am interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate the differentiation and function of GABA neurons in the mammalian brain. We use multiple experimental approaches to address this question including the generation and analysis of knockout and transgenic mice, studies of gene function in an embryonic stem cell model of neurogenesis and molecular genetic studies of the genes in C. elegans that are required for GABA neuron development and function. In addition to using embryonic stem cells as a model of neurogenesis, I am interested in basic science approaches for the development and refinement of stem cell therapies that use embryonic stem cells.
Wang G., Silva J., Krishnamurthy K., Tran E., Condie B.G. and E. Bieberich. 2005. Direct binding to ceramide activates protein kinase Czeta before the formation of a pro-apoptotic complex with PAR-4 in differentiating stem cells. J Biol Chem. 280: 26415-26424.
  • Krishnamurthy, K., G. Wang, J. Silva, B.G. Condie and E. Bieberich. 2007. Ceramide regulates atypical PKC lambda/zeta-mediated cell polarity in primitive ectoderm cells: a novel function of sphingolipids in embryonic morphogenesis. Journal of Biological Chemistry 282: 3379-3390.
  • Gordon, J., B. Hughes, D.-M. Su, S. Shiyun Xiao, S.P. Navarre, B.G. Condie and N.R. Manley. (007. Specific expression of lacZ and Cre recombinase in fetal thymic epithelial cells by multiplex gene targeting at the Foxn1 locus. BMC Developmental Biology 7: 69.
  • S. A. Noggle, D. Weiler and B.G. Condie. 2006. NOTCH signaling is inactive but inducible in human embryonic stem cells. Stem Cells 24: 1646-1653.
  • Oh, W.J., S.A. Noggle, D.M. Maddox and B.G. Condie. 2005. The mouse vesicular inhibitory amino acid transporter gene: expression during embryogenesis, analysis of its core promoter in neural stem cells and a reconsideration of its alternate splicing. Gene 351: 39-49.
  • Bieberich E., J. Silva, G. Wang, K. Krishnamurthy and B.G. Condie. 2004. Selective apoptosis of pluripotent mouse and human stem cells by novel ceramide analogs prevents teratoma formation and enriches for neural precursors in ES-cell derived neural transplants. J. Cell Biology 167: 723-734.
  • Schulz, T.C., S.A. Noggle, G.M. Palmarini, D.A. Weiler, I.G. Lyons, K.A. Pensa, A.C.B. Meedeniya, B.P. Davidson, N.A. Lambert and B.G. Condie. 2004. Differentiation of human embryonic stem cells to dopaminergic neurons in serum free suspension culture. Stem Cells 22: 1218-1238.
  • Martin, D.M., J.M. Skidmore, S.T. Philips, C. Vieira, P.J. Gage, B.G. Condie, Y. Raphael, S. Martinez and S.A. Camper. 2004. PITX2 is required for normal development of neurons in the mouse subthalamic nucleus and midbrain. Developmental Biology 267: 93-108.
  • Bhattacharya, B., T. Miura, R. Brandenberger, J. Mejido, Y. Luo, A.X. Yang, B.H. Joshi, I. Ginis, R.S. Thies, M. Amit, I. Lyons, B.G. Condie, J. Itskovitz-Eldor, M.S. Rao and R.K. Puri. 2004. Gene expression in human embryonic stem cell lines: unique molecular signature. Blood 103: 2956-2964.
  • Schulz, T.C., G.M. Palmarini, D.A. Weiler, M. Mitalipova and B.G. Condie. 2003. Directed neuronal differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. BMC Neuroscience 4: 27.
  • Bieberich, E., S. MacKinnon, J. Silva, S. Noggle and B.G. Condie. 2003. Regulation of cell death in mitotic neural progenitor cells by asymmetric distribution of prostate apoptosis response 4 (PAR-4) and simultaneous elevation of endogenous ceramide. J. Cell Biology 162: 469-479.
  • Su, D.-M., W.-J. Oh, S. Navarre, B.G. Condie and N. R. Manley. 2003. A domain of the nude gene required for crosstalk-dependent epithelial cell differentiation. Nature Immunology 4: 1128-1135.
  • Westmoreland, J.J., C.R. Hancock and B.G. Condie. 2001. Neuronal development of embryonic stem cells: a model of GABAergic neuron differentiation. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 284: 674-680.
  • Westmoreland, J. J., J. McEwen, B.A. Moore, Y. Jin, and B.G. Condie. 2001. Conserved function of Caenorhabditis elegans UNC-30 and mouse Pitx2 in controlling GABAergic neuron differentiation. The Journal of Neuroscience 21: 6810-6819.
  • "Regulation of GABAergic neuron differentiation," NIH
  • "Regulation of thymic epithelial cell differentiation," NIH
  • "Derivation of parathyroid cells in HESC cultures," NIH