Associate Professor – Department of Neurology Associate Professor – Department of Neuroscience Director - Neurology Residency Program Director - Neurology Fellowship Programs M.D., Boston University School of Medicine, 1984 Department of Neurology, NB-302 6501 Fannin Houston, TX 77030 Telephone: 713-798-6151 - Fax: 713-798-8530 Email: pschulz@bcm.edu

Dr. Schulz's lab studies diseases at the cellular and clinical level that affect cognition and behavior. The lab is especially interested in the mechanisms underlying normal cognition and neurodegenerative disorders.

The basic science research in the lab focuses on the cellular mechanisms underlying cognition and behavior, and how they are altered by neurologic disease. We use electrophysiological recording techniques, such as patch-clamp recordings and extracellular recordings, to record from a single neuron or groups of neurons.  Several projects focus on the normal mechanisms underlying long-term potentiation (LTP), long-term depression (LTD), and decremental forms of plasticity. One set of projects focuses on explicating different forms of LTD and their transcriptional regulation. In another project, we are investigating the cellular mechanisms underlying decremental plasticity, including using mutant mice to understand the underlying mechanisms. Another project examines dendritic channels that are altered with LTP- we have also found that inhibition of these channels may enhance neuronal excitation after stroke and contribute to neuronal death. In another project, we record from single or small groups of synapses to demonstrate the addition of silent synapses to the development of LTP. Finally, the lab is interested in mutant mouse models of neurodegenerative disorders that can be used to investigate mechanisms that contribute to neuronal loss.

The clinical research in the lab focuses on investigating neurodegenerative disorders at several levels. The lab is interested in how to better diagnose and differentiate between neurodegenerative disorders. We are interested in how to treat them, especially the disorders for which no treatments currently exist. Neuroepidemiology is used to investigate general medical illnesses that alter the probability or speed of progression of neurodegenerative disorders – these types of studies give us insights into the mechanisms involved in neurodegeneration. The lab uses clinical studies to understand the prevalence of various behavioral changes (like aggression) and how to treat them. The lab is interested in how cognitive functions, like semantic memory, are altered in diseases like epilepsy and by epilepsy surgery. Functional imaging is used to investigate human interactions, their underlying anatomy, and how they are altered in disease. Finally, we are using genetics to understand the genes for which mutations produce neurodegenerative disease and are especially interested in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

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Schmolck H, Mosnik D, Schulz PE. Rating the approachability of faces in ALS. Neurology. In Press.

Wheaton MW, Salamone AR, Mosnik DM, McDonald RO, Appel SH, Schmolck HI, Ringholz GM, and Schulz PE. Cognitive impairment in familial ALS. Neurology 2007; Sept 25, 2007.

Kunik ME, Walgama JP, Snow AL, Davila JA, Schulz PE, Steele AB, and Morgan RO. Documentation, Assessment and Treatment of Aggression in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Dementia. Alz Dis Assoc Disord 2007; Apr-Jun;21(2):115-21.

Kasten MR, Fan Y, Schulz PE. Activation of silent synapses with sustained but not decremental long-term potentiation. Neuroscience Letters 2007; 417:84-89.

Bowler RM, Koller W, Schulz PE. Parkinsonism due to Manganism in a Welder: neurological and neuropsychological sequelae. Neurotoxicology 2006; 27:327-332.

Ringholz GM, Roebuck T, Mosnik DM, Bradshaw M, Appel SH, and Schulz PE. Prevalence and patterns of cognitive impairment in sporadic ALS. Neurology 2005; 65:586-590.

Krishnan LL, Petersen NJ, Snow AL, Cully JA, Schulz PE, Graham DP, Morgan RO, Braun U, Moffett ML, Yu HJ, Kunik ME. Prevalence of Dementia among Veterans Affairs Medical Care System Users. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2005;20(4):245-253.

Sadek A, Rauch R, Schulz PE. Parkinsonism due to Manganism in a welder. Int J Toxicol. 22(5): 393-401, 2003.

Schulz PE, McIntosh AD, Kasten MR, Wieringa B, Epstein HF. A role for myotonic dystrophy protein kinase in synaptic plasticity. J Neurophysiol 89: 1177-1186, 2003.

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2006 - Professor with whom the Medical Students most want to Work from the Second Year students finishing their basic sciences

2004 - Favorite Professor in Neurology from the 2004 Graduating Baylor Medical Student Class

2003 - John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award for the Clinical Sciences

2003 - Outstanding Attending Award from the 2003 Graduating Baylor Medical Student Class

2003 - Teacher Recognition Award from the A.B. Baker Section on Neurologic Education of the American Academy of Neurology

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• Yuan Fan (Postdoctoral Neuroscience Fellow)
• Berneet Kaur (Neuropsychiatry Fellow)
• Janet Hickey (Neuropsychiatry Fellow)
• Joseph Kass (Neuropsychiatry Fellow)

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CA1 pyramidal neuron filled with Alexa 594 DIC image of hippocampal slice and whole-cell patch-clamp recordings Schematic diagram of hippocampal circuitry

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