Cell Quantification Using Machine Learning – We are developing methods to automate cell quantification using machine learning. In this example, we identify neurons by immunolabeling with NeuN and quantify using Tensorflow and a suite of custom written scripts.

Drug Induced Developmental Neuropathology

My research broadly deals with neuropathology in the developing brain.  Due to the intricate ontogenetic processes that occur during brain formation, the developing brain is highly susceptible to a variety of insults.  For instance, alcohol is relatively safe in the adult but highly toxic to the fetal/infant brain.  Many commonly used clinical medications (such as all anesthetics and many sedatives and anti-epileptic drugs) are pharmacologically similar to alcohol and produce an indistinguishable pattern of neurodegeneration in animal models.  This suggests clinicians may be iatrogenically producing brain damage in over a million children administered these drugs every year.  Despite this danger, anesthetics/sedatives are oftentimes an important and necessary component of perinatal medicine. Therefore, we are characterizing when the developing brain is susceptible to this toxicity and evaluating alternative treatment regimens for safety.

List of lab publications »

Zika Virus Induced Developmental Neuropathology

Kevin K. Noguchi, Brant S. Swiney, Sasha L. Williams, Jacob N. Huffman, Katherine Lucas, Sophie H. Wang, Kayla M. Kapral, Amber Li, Krikor T. Dikranian (2019) Zika Virus Infection In The Developing Mouse Produces Dramatically Different Neuropathology Dependent On Viral Strain. The Journal of Neuroscience 40(5):1145-1161.

Jonathan J. Miner, Bin Cao, Jennifer Govero, Amber M. Smith, Estefania Fernandez, Omar H. Cabrera, Charise Garber, Michelle Noll, Robyn S. Klein, Kevin K. Noguchi, Indira U. Mysorekar, Michael S. Diamond (2016) Zika Virus Infection during Pregnancy in Mice Causes Placental Damage and Fetal Demise. Cell. 165(5):1081-1091.

Jonathan J. Miner, Abdoulaye Sene, Justin M. Richner, Amber M. Smith, Andrea Santeford, Norimitsu Ban, James Weger-Lucarelli, Francesca Manzella, Claudia Rückert, Jennifer Govero, Kevin K. Noguchi, Gregory D. Ebel, Michael S. Diamond, Rajendra S. Apte (2016) Zika Virus Infection in Mice Causes Panuveitis with Shedding of Virus in Tears. Cell Reports 16(12):3208-3218.

IDDRC Neuropathology Unit:  Drs. Noguchi and Farber are also co-leaders of the Neuropathology Unit within the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center Grant (IDDRC) at Washington University.  The IDDRCs are a set of centers located at many of the nations top university dedicated to advancing the understanding of intellectual and developmental disabilities.  The Neuropathology Unit provides expert guidance and core services to other investigators interested in assessing neuropathology in animal models.  For more information please go to the following link.