Melissa Bowerman

Biography

Dr Bowerman is a Lecturer in Bioscience at the School of Medicine, a Group Leader at the Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine and a Group Member of the Wolfson Centre for Inherited Neuromuscular Disease in Oswestry. Dr Bowerman is also a principal investigator in the UK SMA Research Consortium (https://www.smatrust.org/research/uk-sma-research-consortium/).

Dr Bowerman completed her Ph.D. (2006-2012) in Dr Rashmi Kothary's laboratory (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI)/University of Ottawa, Canada) where she held a CIHR Frederick Banting and Charles Best doctoral award and received the OHRI Dr. Ronald G. Worton Researcher in Training Award. Dr Bowerman then joined Dr Cedric Raoul's laboratory at the Institut des Neurosciences de Montpellier in France as an EMBO Long-Term Fellow (2012-2014). From 2014-2016, Dr Bowerman was a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Oxford in Pr Matthew Wood's group. In October 2015, Dr Bowerman was the recipient of a Junior Research Fellowship at Somerville College, University of Oxford (2015-2017). In January 2016, Dr Bowerman was awarded and SMA Trust Career Development Fellowship at the University of Oxford.

Honours and Awards

2000-2001: University of Ottawa Admission Scholarship

2003: NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award in Industry

2006-2010: University of Ottawa Admission Scholarship

2006-2012: University of Ottawa Dean’s Scholarship

2006-2008: Ontario Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology

2008: ASCB Childcare Award

2008: OHRI Research Day Oral Presentation Award

2009-2012: University of Ottawa National Excellence Scholarship

2009-2012: Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship: CIHR Doctoral Award

2010: Ottawa Hospital Research Institute Dr. Ronald G. Worton Researcher in Training Award

2012-2014: European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Long-Term Fellowship

2012: University of Ottawa Pierre Laberge Thesis Prize

2013: Nominated for the CAGS/UMI Dissertation Award

2015: FightSMA-Gwendolyn Strong Foundation Emerging Investigator Award

2015: Somerville College Fulford Junior Research Fellowship

2016-2017: SMA Trust Career Development Fellowship

2016: University of Oxford Reward and Recognition Scheme

Research and scholarship

ISTM Research theme: Regenerative Medicine

Dr Bowerman’s research is focused on neurodegenerative and neuromuscular disorders such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The central thematic of Dr Bowerman’s research is to identify novel pathological pathways that contribute to the pathophysiology of these diseases and to investigate therapeutic strategies to correct the identified defects.

The current projects in Dr Bowerman’s research group are:

Investigating the pathogenic role of the TWEAK/Fn14 in denervation-induced muscular atrophy in ALS and SMA.
Performing a comprehensive analysis of metabolic and circadian perturbations in SMA and ALS.
Investigating the role of brown adipose tissue in SMA pathogenesis.
Developing combinatorial therapeutic approaches for SMA therapy.

Current and past research in the Bowerman lab funded by:

The SMA Trust

Musular Dystrophy Ireland

MRCG-HRB

The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation

Fight SMA

SMA Angels Charity

Association Française contre les Myopathies

Teaching

Jan 2016-June 2017: Stipendiary Lecturer, Organization of the Body, 1st year pre-clinical students, Somerville College, University of Oxford, UK

March 2017: FHS Seminar, 3rd year pre-clinical and biomedical sciences students, University of Oxford, UK

June 2017: M.Sc. Neuroscience Lecture, RNA-based Gene Therapy, University of Oxford, UK

October 2017-present: Various elements of the undergraduate curriculum for the School of Medicine MBChB, Keele University, UK.

Further information

Interested in joining our group?

A Ph.D. position will be available in Fall/Autumn 2018.

Publications

Original Articles

1. Bowerman M, Shafey D, Kothary R. Smn depletion alters profilin II expression and leads to the upregulation of the RhoA/ROCK pathway and defects in neuronal integrity. J Mol Neurosci. 2007; 32(2): 120-131.

2. Mattis VB, Bowerman M, Kothary R, Lorson CL. A SMNDelta7 read-through product confers functionality to the SMNDelta7 protein. Neurosci Lett. 2008 Sep 5; 442(1): 54-58. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304394008008884?via%3Dihub

3. Bowerman M, Anderson CL, Beauvais A, Boyl PP, Witke W, Kothary R. SMN, profilin IIa and plastin 3: a link between the deregulation of actin dynamics and SMA pathogenesis. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2009; 42(1): 66-74.

4. Bowerman M, Beauvais A, Anderson CL, Kothary R. Rho-kinase inactivation prolongs survival of an intermediate SMA mouse model. Hum Mol Genet. 2010; 19(8): 1468-1478.

5. Bowerman M, Murray LM, Beauvais A, Pinheiro B, Kothary R. A critical Smn threshold in mice dictates onset of an intermediate Spinal Muscular Atrophy phenotype associated with a distinct neuromuscular junction pathology. Neuromus Dis. 2012; 22(3): 263-276.

6. Bowerman M, Murray LM, Boyer JG, Anderson CL, Kothary R. Fasudil improves survival and promotes skeletal muscle development in a mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy. BMC Med. 2012; 10 (24).

7. Bowerman M, Swoboda KJ, Michalski JP, Wang GS, Reeks C, Beauvais A, Murphy K, Woulfe J, Screaton RA, Scott FW, Kothary R. Glucose metabolism and pancreatic defects in spinal muscular atrophy. Annal Neurol. 2012; 72 (2): 256-268.

8. Bowerman M, Michalski JP, Beauvais A, Murray LM, DeRepentigny Y, Kothary R. Defects in pancreatic development and glucose metabolism in Smn-depleted mice independent of canonical Spinal Muscular Atrophy neuromuscular pathology. Hum Mol Genet. 2014; 23 (13): 3432-44.

9. Otsmane B, Moumen A, Aebischer J, Coque E, Sar C, Sunyach C, Salsac C, Valmier J, Salinas S, Bowerman M, Raoul C. Somatic and axonal LIGHT signaling elicit degenerative and regenerative responses in motoneurons, respectively. EMBO Rep. 2014; 15(5): 540-7.

10. Scamps F, Sangari S, Bowerman M, Rousset M, Bellis M, Cens T, Charnet P. Nerve injury induces a Gem-GTPase-dependent downregulationof P/Q-type Ca2+ channels contributing to neurite plasticity in dorsal root ganglion neurons. Pflügers Archiv. 2015; 467 (2): 351-366.

11. Bowerman M, Salsac C, Coque E, Eiselt E, Deschaumes RG, Brodovitch A, Burkly LC, Scamps F, Raoul C. Tweak regulates astrogliosis, microgliosis and skeletal muscle atrophy in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Hum Mol Genet. 2015; 24 (12): 3440-3456.

12. Rousset M, Cens T, Menard C, Bowerman M, Bellis M, Brusés J, Raoul C, Scamps F, Charnet P. Regulation of neuronal high-voltage activated Ca_V2 Ca²⁺ channels by the small GTPase RhoA. Neuropharmacology. 2015; 97: 201-209.

13. Hammond SM, Hazell G, Shabanpoor F, Saleh AF, Bowerman M, Sleigh JN, Meijboom K, Zhou H, Muntoni F, Talbot K, Gait M, Wood MJA. Systemic peptide-mediated oligonucleotide therapy improves long-term survival in spinal muscular atrophy. PNAS. 2016; 113 (39): 10962-10967.

14. Bowerman M, Salsac C, Bernard V, Dionne A, Coque E, Benlefki S, Hince P, Dion PA, Butler-Browne G, Camu W, Bouchard JP, Delpire E, Rouleau GA, Raoul C, Scamps F. KCC3 loss-of-function contributes to Andermann syndrome by inducing activity-dependent neuromuscular junction defects. Neurobiol Dis. 2017; 106: 35-48.

15. Walter LM, Deguise MO, Meijboom KE, Betts CA, Ahlskog N, van Westering TLE, Hazell G, McFall E, Kordala A, Hammond SM, Abendroth F, Murray LM, Shorrock HK, Prosdocimo DA, Haldar SM, Jain MK, Gillingwater TG, Claus P, Kothary R, Wood MJA, Bowerman M. Interventions targeting glucocorticoid-Krüppel-like factor 15-branched-chain amino acid signaling improve disease phenotypes in spinal muscular atrophy mice. EBioMedicine. 2018.

Reviews

1. Boyer J, Bowerman M, Kothary R. The many faces of SMN: deciphering the function critical to Spinal Muscular Atrophy Pathogenesis. Future Neuro. 2010; 5(6): 873-890. Invited Review.

2. Bowerman M, Vincent T, Scamps F, Perrin FE, Camu W, Raoul C. Neuroimmunity dynamics and the development of therapeutic strategies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Front Cell Neurosci. 2013; 7 (214).

3. Coque E, Raoul C, Bowerman M. ROCK inhibition as a therapy for spinal muscular atrophy: understanding the repercussions on multiple cellular targets. Front Neurosci. 2014; 8 (271). Invited Review.

4. Bowerman M, Becker CG, Yáñez-Muñoz RJ, Ning K, Wood MJA, Gillingwater TH, Talbot K. Therapeutic strategies for spinal muscular atrophy: SMN and beyond. Dis Model Mech. 2017; 10(8): 943-954.

5. Wood MJA, Talbot K, Bowerman M. Spinal muscular atrophy: antisense oligonucleotide therapy opens the door to an integrated therapeutic landscape. Hum Mol Genet. Oct 2017. 26(R2): R151-R159. Invited Review.

6. Bowerman M, Murrray LM, Schneider B, Kothary R, Raoul C. Pathogenic commonalities between spinal muscular atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: converging roads to therapeutic development. Eur J Med Genet. 2017.

Book Chapters

1. Bowerman M, Vincent T, Scamps F, Camu W, Raoul C. The Neuroinflammation in the Pathophysiology of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. In: A.G. Estevez (ed.) Current Advances in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. InTech. September 2013. 97-140. Invited Book Chapter.

Dr Bowerman’s group is also implicated in several public outreach and engagement events organised by Muscular Dystrophy UK (http://www.musculardystrophyuk.org/) and The SMA Trust (https://www.smatrust.org/).

You can also find out more about Dr Bowerman on Research Gate (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Melissa_Bowerman), Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yfVelIAAAAAJ&hl=fr), SMA Support UK (http://www.smasupportuk.org.uk/melissa-bowerman) and Twitter (@BowermanNMD)

Please also visit our lab website: www.thebowermanlab.com