Michael Chumley, Ph.D.

My research program focusses on the pathophysiology of aging-related neurological disorders.  In particular, we study the relationship between inflammation, stress, and diet on the pathologies associated with Alzheimer’s disease.  We work in a close collaboration with Dr. Gary Boehm in the Department of Psychology.  Together, we investigating how stress, diet, exercise, and inflammatory events, lead to early markers of Alzheimer’s disease, including behavioral and cognitive changes.

We have a rich history in mentoring graduate and undergraduate students.  These students learn a number of molecular and cellular techniques such as numerous types of immunoassays, gene expression studies, histology and microscopy, and cell culture work.  Students also may be involved with animal husbandry and behavioral and cognitive testing.  If you are interested in participating in research in my lab, or want to learn more about our work, visit our lab website at 

http://www.tcuneurolab.com/

I have been in and around education my whole life.  My father was the best teacher and coach I have ever known.  As a public-school educator, he guided students with tough lessons and kind words.  A testimony to his successful impact on student lives is witnessed every time a former student, even those with grown children themselves, call him to chat.  Usually the conversation begins with “Hello Coach”.  I have aspired my entire life to achieve the same type of respect from those I work with.  But how do I do that?  What is the “right” way to teach? 

I find it challenging to explain what just seems to come naturally to me.  When I decided to change the course of my undergraduate education to become a teacher, I quickly became bored with the course material.  The lessons were so common sense.  Why spend so much class time focusing on “Mastery Learning”, and Madeline Hunter’s “Instructional Theory Into Practice”?  All students can learn, all students learn differently, teachers need to model their teaching to fit these learning differences, and the only way a teacher will know if what they are teaching is being learned is to assess the student learning and make adjustments.  Why must a whole book and several weeks of study be required for something that already made sense to me?  It was not until I began to put what made sense into practice that I understood why it made sense.  I had been fortunate to have really good teachers throughout my lifetime.  In addition, I had an outstanding model at home that helped me understand that the best teachers had more to give than what was in a textbook.  My father taught me to absorb all the good things that these mentors had to offer.  Now I realize that I have taken everything they had to give, and made it part of MY teaching philosophy.

Teaching is far more than having a command of advanced biological topics and the ability to present them several times a week.  Teaching requires the understanding of how students learn, and how their learning styles can be different.  Teaching requires employing different teaching strategies to reach all students.  I encourage students to take an active role in their education by questioning the facts that are in books and attempting to answer these questions.  I realized that just as my love and understanding of science grew as I became more engaged in the act of doing science, so too would active learning affect my students. 

Getting students involved in learning means that I must be inventive and open to different teaching strategies.  Each class starts with the presentation of a basic concept, an example of why this concept is important, and a question that links the concept to the student’s lives.  As students work through these linkages, they begin to realize that it is important to question their personal beliefs in a scientific manner.  Students begin to think like scientists.  My goal is to have students leave my classroom with an attitude that welcomes inquiry.

•  Himanen JP, Chumley MJ (Co-First Author), Lackmann M, Li C, Barton WA, Jeffrey PD, Vearing C, Geleick D, Feldheim DA, Boyd AW, Henkemeyer M, Nikolov DB. "Repelling class discrimination: ephrin-A5 binds to and activates EphB2 receptor signaling." Nat Neurosci, 2004, 7(5): 501–9.
• Chumley MJ, Catchpole T, Silvany RE, Kernie SG, Henkemeyer M. EphB receptors regulate stem/progenitor cell proliferation, migration, and polarity during hippocampal neurogenesis. J  Neurosci, 2007, 27(49):13481–13490.
• Genander M, Halford MM, Xu NJ, Eriksson M, Yu Z, Qiu Z, Martling A, Greicius G, Thakar S, Catchpole T, Chumley MJ, Zdunek S, Wang C, Holm T, Goff SP, Pettersson S, Pestell RG, Henkemeyer M, Frisén J. Dissociation of EphB2 signaling pathways mediating progenitor cell proliferation and tumor suppression. Cell, 2009, 139(4):679–92.
• Kahn MS*, Kranjac D*, Alonzo CA**, Haase JH**, Cedillos RO**, McLinden KA*, Boehm GW, and Chumley MJ.  Prolonged elevation in hippocampal Abeta and cognitive deficits following repeated endotoxin exposure in the mouse.  Behavioral Brain Research, 2012. 229(1): p. 176–84.  
• Weintraub MK*, Bisson CM.**, Nouri JN**, Vinson BT*, Kranjac D.*, Eimerbrink MJ*, Boehm GW, Chumley MJ. Imatinib Methanesulfonate Reduces Hippocampal Amyloid-Beta And Restores Cognitive Function Following Repeated Endotoxin Exposure. Brain, Behav, and Imm, 2013, 33, 24-28.

• Eph/ephrin Signaling in the Growth Cone. Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, Chicago, IL, 2004
• Potential role for LPS-induced induction of Alzheimer’s disease-related pathology and cognitive deficits. Society for Neuroscience National Convention, Washington, D.C., 2011
• Potential Link Between Viral Inflammation and Alzheimer’s Disease. Society for Neuroscience National Convention, New Orleans, LA, 2012
• Imatinib methanesulfonate reduces hippocampal amyloid-beta and restores cognitive function following repeated endotoxin exposure. Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Repeated exposure to poly I:C leads to elevations in hippocampal amyloid-beta, cognitive dysfunction, and sustained deficits in burrowing. Society for Neuroscience Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.

Honors

• Wassenich Award for Mentoring, Nominee, 2013
• Mortar Board Preferred Professor, 2010 – 2011 and 2009 – 2001
• TCU Senior Class Legacy Honoree, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016

Awards

• Wassenich Award for Mentoring in the TCU Community, 2014
• John V. Roach Honors College Professor of the Year, 2013

Grants

• Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program (NHARP 003636–0003–2011), Systemic Inflammation as a Treatable Risk Factor in the Onset of Alzheimer’s Disease, 07/2012 – 08/2014, $80,000
• National Institutes of Health R15 (1 R15 GM123463-01A1), Targeting oxidative stress in neurodegeneration using pyridol-derived small molecules, 06/2018 – 05/2021, $378,914, PIs: Dr. Kayla Green (TCU), Dr. Giri Akkaraju (TCU), and Dr. Michael Chumley (TCU)

• Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Society for Neuroscience

 http://www.tcuneurolab.com/