January 2026 - Tim has received a Seed Grant from the Merkin Peripheral Neuropathy and Nerve Regeneration Center for the project titled "Assessing ATF4 as a Therapeutic Target in tRNA Synthetase-Associated Forms of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease using human iPSCs". If successful, this 2-year project could lead to new treatments that protect peripheral nerves from damage in CMT by revealing how the stress-response protein ATF4 drives nerve injury. Using human stem cell–derived nerve cells, this research aims to identify molecular targets for intervention. Because ATF4 activation is shared across multiple peripheral nervous system disorders, these findings could ultimately benefit a broad patient community.
September 2025 - A paper from the Burgess Lab entitled "SARM1 inhibition in three mouse models of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease" was accepted for publication in the Journal of the Peripheral Nervous system. See it here - doi: 10.1111/jns.70053
September 2025 - An NIH "Re-training and re-tooling supplement" was awarded to Rob's R37 grant! Tim and Rob co-wrote this supplement to support Tim's training in generating and analyzing cutting-edge in vitro neuromuscular disease models with Drs. Alec Smith and Mark Bothwell at University of Washington.
June 2025 - Tim gave a talk and presented a poster at the Neurodegeneration Keystone meeting in Whistler, Canada.
May 2025 - Tim gave a talk at the Peripheral Nerve Society annual meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland.
February 2025 - Tim gave a talk and presented a poster at the Translation Control in Health and Disease GRS/GRC in Pomona, CA.
14 November 2024 - Tim gave an invited talk entitled "An Integrated Approach to Studying Rare Neuromuscular Diseases" at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS) in Pittsburgh, PA.
9 October 2024 - Tim presented a poster entitled "Biltong: An ENU-induced mouse model of autosomal dominant spastic ataxia" at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL.
October 2024 - A paper from the Cox lab at JAX entitled "Clinically relevant mouse models of severe Spinal Muscular Atrophy with Respiratory Distress type 1" was accepted for publication in Human Molecular Genetics. See it here - doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddae116
22 June 2024 - Tim gave a joint talk with Laura Morant from University of Antwerp entitled "Mechanisms and therapeutic strategies for tRNA synthetase associated CMTs" at the Peripheral Nerve Society (PNS) Annual Meeting in Montral, Canada.
6 June 2024 - Tim gave an invited talk entitled "ATF4 as a therapeutic target for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2D" at the Samuel M. Nabrit Conference for Early Career Scholars at Brown University in Providence, RI.
April 2024 - A paper from the Burgess Lab entitled "Testing Sipa1l2 as a modifier of CMT1A using mouse models" was accepted for publication in the Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology. See it here - doi: 10.1093/jnen/nlae020
26 March 2024 - Tim gave a Spotlight Talk entitled "ATF4 as a therapeutic target for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2D" at the Discover BMB Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX.
23 February 2024 - Tim gave an invited talk entitled "ATF4 as a therapeutic target for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2D" at the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association Strategy To Accelerated Research (CMTA-STAR) Advisory Board Meeting in Dallas, TX.
4 January 2024 - Tim gave an invited talk on the "Best Journal of Anatomy Paper of 2022" entitled "Precision Mouse Models of Yars/Dominant Intermediate Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Type C and Sptlc1/Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy Type 1" at the Anatomical Society Winter Meeting in Liverpool, UK.