Gary L. Westbrook, M.D.

  • Professor, Vollum Institute
  • Senior Scientist, Vollum Institute
  • Rocky and Julie Dixon Professor of Neurology, Neurology, School of Medicine
  • Neuroscience Graduate Program, School of Medicine
  • Jungers Center for Neurosciences Research

Biography

Dr. Westbrook received clinical training in Internal Medicine and Neurology in Boston and St. Louis, and research training at the National Institutes of Health. He is senior scientist at the Vollum Institute and the Dixon Professor of Neurology at OHSU. His research interests are the mechanisms of synaptic transmission in the nervous system. Dr. Westbrook has been active in recruitment of faculty to the Jungers Center and in OHSU training activities in disease-oriented neuroscience research. He initiated the Neurobiology of Disease course in the graduate program and served as director of the Vollum/OHSU Neuroscience Graduate Program from 2008–2018.

Researchers in the Westbrook Lab would like to understand how synapses and small circuits do their work. Our earlier work was mostly directed at the level of receptors, particularly N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, and the function of single synapses. Our efforts have now largely shifted to studies of small networks (microcircuits) in the hippocampus. Our goal is to understand how such circuits are formed, regulate their activity and contribute to the function of neural systems.

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • M.D., 1976, Case Western Reserve University

Memberships and associations:

  • Editor-In-Chief, Journal of Neuroscience (2003-2007)
  • Senior Editor, eLife (2015- )

Areas of interest

  • neurogenesis
  • hippocampal microcircuits
  • glutamate receptors
  • epilepsy
  • regeneration and repair
  • synaptic transmission

Honors and awards

  • Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, NINDS, NIH (1993)
  • MERIT Award, NIMH, NIH (1997)
  • National Academy of Medicine (elected member, 2008)

Publications

Publications

  • Induction of Oxidative Stress and Alteration of Synaptic Gene Expression in Newborn Hippocampal Granule Cells after Developmental Exposure to Aroclor 1254

    Neuroendocrinology
    1. Anneline Pinson
    2. Elena Sevrin
    3. Christina Chatzi
    4. Benjamin Le Gac
    5. Marc Thiry
    6. Gary L. Westbrook
    7. Anne Simone Parent
  • Adaptive Mossy Cell Circuit Plasticity after Status Epilepticus

    Journal of Neuroscience
    1. Corwin R. Butler
    2. Gary L. Westbrook
    3. Eric Schnell
  • α2δ-2 is required for depolarization-induced suppression of excitation in Purkinje cells

    Journal of Physiology
    1. Kathleen A. Beeson
    2. Gary L. Westbrook
    3. Eric Schnell
  • α2δ-2 Protein Controls Structure and Function at the Cerebellar Climbing Fiber Synapse

    The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
    1. Kathleen A. Beeson
    2. Ryne Beeson
    3. Gary L. Westbrook
    4. Eric Schnell
  • Autoimmune receptor encephalitis in mice induced by active immunization with conformationally stabilized holoreceptors

    Science translational medicine
    1. Brian E. Jones
    2. Kenneth R. Tovar
    3. April Goehring
    4. Farzad Jalali-Yazdi
    5. Nana J. Okada
    6. Eric Gouaux
    7. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Early detonation by sprouted mossy fibers enables aberrant dentate network activity

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    1. William D. Hendricks
    2. Gary L. Westbrook
    3. Eric Schnell
  • Exercise-induced enhancement of synaptic function triggered by the inverse BAR protein, Mtss1L

    eLife
    1. Christina Chatzi
    2. Yingyu Zhang
    3. Wiiliam D. Hendricks
    4. Yang Chen
    5. Eric Schnell
    6. Richard H. Goodman
    7. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Preferential targeting of lateral entorhinal inputs onto newly integrated granule cells

    Journal of Neuroscience
    1. Nicholas I. Woods
    2. Christopher E. Vaaga
    3. Christina Chatzi
    4. Jaimie D. Adelson
    5. Matthew F. Collie
    6. Julia V. Perederiy
    7. Kenneth R. Tovar
    8. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Trajectory analysis unveils Reelin’s role in the directed migration of granule cells in the dentate gyrus

    Journal of Neuroscience
    1. Shaobo Wang
    2. Bianka Brunne
    3. Shanting Zhao
    4. Xuejun Chai
    5. Jiawei Li
    6. Jeremie Lau
    7. Antonio Virgilio Failla
    8. Bernd Zobiak
    9. Mirjam Sibbe
    10. Gary L. Westbrook
    11. David Lutz
    12. Michael Frotscher
  • Distinct temporal filters in mitral cells and external tufted cells of the olfactory bulb

    Journal of Physiology
    1. Christopher E. Vaaga
    2. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Modulating synaptic NMDA receptors

    Neuropharmacology
    1. Kenneth R. Tovar
    2. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Presynaptic gain control by endogenous cotransmission of dopamine and GABA in the olfactory bulb

    Journal of neurophysiology
    1. Christopher E. Vaaga
    2. Jordan T. Yorgason
    3. John T. Williams
    4. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Short-term depression of sprouted mossy fiber synapses from adult-born granule cells

    Journal of Neuroscience
    1. William D. Hendricks
    2. Yang Chen
    3. Aesoon L. Bensen
    4. Gary L. Westbrook
    5. Eric Schnell
  • Early exposure to Aroclor 1254 in vivo disrupts the functional synaptic development of newborn hippocampal granule cells

    European Journal of Neuroscience
    1. A. S. Parent
    2. A. Pinson
    3. N. Woods
    4. C. Chatzi
    5. C. E. Vaaga
    6. A. Bensen
    7. A. Gérard
    8. J. P. Thome
    9. J. P. Bourguignon
    10. G. L. Westbrook
  • Parallel processing of afferent olfactory sensory information

    Journal of Physiology
    1. Christopher E. Vaaga
    2. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Transcriptional profiling of newly generated dentate granule cells using TU tagging reveals pattern shifts in gene expression during circuit integration

    eNeuro
    1. Christina Chatzi
    2. Yingyu Zhang
    3. Rongkun Shen
    4. Gary L. Westbrook
    5. Richard H. Goodman
  • Functional integration of adult-born hippocampal neurons after traumatic brain injury

    eNeuro
    1. Laura E. Villasana
    2. Kristine N. Kim
    3. Gary L. Westbrook
    4. Eric Schnell
  • Localized hypoxia within the subgranular zone determines the early survival of newborn hippocampal granule cells

    eLife
    1. Christina Chatzi
    2. Eric Schnell
    3. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Fatty acids increase neuronal hypertrophy of Pten knockdown neurons

    Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
    1. Catherine J. Fricano
    2. Tyrone DeSpenza
    3. Paul W. Frazel
    4. Meijie Li
    5. A. James O'Malley
    6. Gary L. Westbrook
    7. Bryan W. Luikart
  • Neuroligin-1 knockdown reduces survival of adult-generated newborn hippocampal neurons

    Frontiers in Neuroscience
    1. Eric Schnell
    2. Thomas H. Long
    3. Ae Soon L. Bensen
    4. Eric K. Washburn
    5. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Neurologic impairment following closed head injury predicts post-traumatic neurogenesis

    Experimental Neurology
    1. L. E. Villasana
    2. G. L. Westbrook
    3. E. Schnell
  • The IGF-derived tripeptide Gly-Pro-Glu is a weak NMDA receptor agonist

    Journal of neurophysiology
    1. Christopher E. Vaaga
    2. Kenneth R. Tovar
    3. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Distinct modes of dopamine and GABA release in a dual transmitter neuron

    Journal of Neuroscience
    1. Maria Borisovska
    2. Ae Soon L. Bensen
    3. Gene Chong
    4. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Hierarchical excitatory synaptic connectivity in mouse olfactory cortex

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    1. Matthew J. McGinley
    2. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Neural injury alters proliferation and integration of adult-generated neurons in the dentate gyrus

    Journal of Neuroscience
    1. Julia V. Perederiy
    2. Bryan W. Luikart
    3. Eric K. Washburn
    4. Eric Schnell
    5. Gary L. Westbrook
  • Triheteromeric NMDA receptors at hippocampal synapses

    Journal of Neuroscience
    1. Kenneth R. Tovar
    2. Matthew J. McGinley
    3. Gary L. Westbrook