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Mendell Rimer, PhD

Mendell Rimer
Mendell Rimer, PhD

Associate Professor

Contact

Department of Neuroscience & Experimental Therapeutics
8447 Riverside Pkwy
4008 Medical Research and Education Building
Bryan, TX 77807
rimer@tamu.edu
Phone: 979.436.0334
Fax: 979.436.0086

Education and Training

  • Universidad de Los Andes, BS, Biology
  • University of Maryland at Baltimore, PhD, Molecular and Cell Biology. Minor in Pharmacology.
  • Stanford University and New York University, Postdoctoral Training in Neurobiology and Molecular Genetics

Research Interests

  • Research in the Rimer lab centers on the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the formation, maintenance and pathology of synapses, the connections between nerve cells and their targets. Because of its simplicity and experimental accessibility we have used the vertebrate neuromuscular junction (NMJ) as our model system. The NMJ is the synapse between a motor neuron and a skeletal muscle fiber. We address these problems using state-of-the-art mouse molecular genetic techniques in combination with standard molecular, cellular, and immunological approaches.
  • I participate in graduate training as a member of the faculty in the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience and the Medical Science PhD program in the School of Medicine.

Representative Publications

  • Rimer M, Seaberg BL, Yen P-F, Lam S, Hastings RL, Lee YI, Thompson WJ, Feng Z, Metzger F, Paushkin S, Ko C-P (2019) Nerve sprouting capacity in a pharmacologically induced mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy. Scientific Reports 9: 7799.
  • Wang S, Seaberg B, Paez-Colasante X and Rimer M (2016) Defective acetylcholine receptor subunit switch precedes atrophy of slow-twitch skeletal muscle fibers lacking ERK1/2 kinases in soleus muscle. Scientific Reports 6: 38745.
  • Seaberg B, Henslee G, Wang S, Paez-Colasante X, Landreth GE and Rimer M (2015) Muscle-derived extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 are required for the maintenance of adult myofibers and their neuromuscular junctions. Molecular and Cellular Biology 35: 1238-1253. (Spotlighted Article).
  • Paez-Colasante X, Seaberg B, Martinez TL, Kong L, Sumner CJ and Rimer M (2013) Improvement of neuromuscular synaptic phenotypes without enhanced survival and motor function in severe spinal muscular atrophy mice selectively rescued in motor neurons. PLoS ONE 8: e75866.
  • Lee YI, Mikesh M, Smith I, Rimer M and Thompson W (2011) Muscles in a mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy show profound defects in neuromuscular development even in the absence of failure in neuromuscular transmission or loss of motor neurons. Developmental Biology 356: 432-444.
  • Rimer M (2010) Modulation of agrin-induced acetylcholine receptor clustering by extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 in cultured myotubes. Journal of Biological Chemistry 285: 32370-32377.
  • Ward AJ, Rimer M, Killian JM, Dowling JJ and Cooper TA (2010) CUGBP1 overexpression in mouse skeletal muscle reproduces features of myotonic dystrophy type 1. Human Molecular Genetics 19: 3614-3622.
  • Vock VM, Ponomareva ON and Rimer M (2008) Evidence for muscle-dependent neuromuscular synaptic site determination in mammals. Journal of Neuroscience 28: 3123-3130.
  • Kang H, Tian L, Son YJ, Zuo Y, Kopp D, Love F, Hayworth C, Trachtenberg J, Mikesh M, Sutton L, Ponomareva O, Mignone J, Enikolopov G, Rimer M and Thompson W (2007) Regulation of the intermediate filament protein nestin at rodent neuromuscular junctions by innervation and activity. Journal of Neuroscience 27: 5948-5957.
  • Rimer M (2007) Neuregulins at the neuromuscular synapse: Past, present, and future. Journal of Neuroscience Research 85: 1827-1833.
  • Ponomareva ON, Fischer TJ, Lai C and Rimer M (2006) Schwann cell-derived neuregulin-2alpha can function as a cell-attached activator of muscle acetylcholine receptor expression. Glia 54: 630-637.
  • Hayworth CR, Moody SE, Chodosh LA, Krieg PA, Rimer M* and Thompson WJ* (2006) Inducible activation of neuregulin signaling in mouse Schwann cells in vivo mimics responses to denervation. Journal of Neuroscience26: 6873-6884. *Co-corresponding authors.
  • Ponomareva ON, Ma H, Vock VM, Ellerton EL, Moody SE, Dakour R, Chodosh LA and Rimer M (2006) Defective neuromuscular synaptogenesis in mice expressing constitutively active ErbB2 in skeletal muscle fibers. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience 31: 334-345. (Evaluated by Faculty of 1000 Biology).