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Faculty Detail    
Name EROBOGHENE E. UBOGU
M.D.		  
Campus Address SC 240 Zip 0017
Phone  (205) 934-2120
E-mail  ubogu@uab.edu
Other websites
     

Education
Medical School  Imperial College School of Medicine, University of London, London, United Kingdom    1998  MBBS (Hons) 
Residency  Cleveland Clinic Foundation    2000  Internship 
Residency  University Hospitals/ Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine    2003  Residency 
Fellowship  Emory University School of Medicine    2004  Fellowship 
Fellowship  Cleveland Clinic Foundation Lerner Research Institute    2006  Fellowship (research) 

Certifications
Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates  1999 
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology  2004 
American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine  2005 
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology- Clinical Neurophysiology  2005 
American Board of Psychaitry and Neurology- Neuromuscular Medicine  2008 


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Neurology Chair Office  Neurology Chair Office Professor
Secondary  Neurobiology  Neurobiology Professor
Center    Professor
Center  Center for AIDS Research  Center for AIDS Research Professor
Center  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci Professor
Center  Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute  Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute Professor

Biographical Sketch 
I graduated from the Imperial College School of Medicine, University of London, London, United Kingdom in 1998, completed a General Internal Medicine internship at the Cleveland Clinic and residency in Adult Neurology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, both in Cleveland, Ohio. I completed a clinical fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuromuscular Disorders at Emory University School of Medicine and a post-doctoral research fellowship in Neurosciences/Neuroimmunology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. I previously worked at the Louis Stokes Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center/ Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio (2004-2007) and Baylor College of Medicine (2007-2013). I moved to UAB in September 2013. I am Board certified in Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology, Electrodiagnostic Medicine and Neuromuscular Medicine and have clinical interests in all aspects of neuromuscular and electrodiagnostic medicine, with special interest in autoimmune neuromuscular disorders. I am a tenured Professor of Neurology and the Director of the Division of Neuromuscular Disease at UAB. I also direct the EMG and Evoked Potentials Laboratory at UAB Hospital, the Shin J Oh Muscle and Nerve Histopathology Laboratory and serve as Director of the Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship. I am licensed to practice medicine in Ohio, Georgia, Texas and Alabama. I also direct a translational basic science laboratory located in the Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building (the Neuromuscular Immunopathology Research Laboratory), relocated from Baylor College of Medicine in September 2013. My laboratory in Houston, TX was the first in the world to isolate and characterize human peripheral nerve endoneurial endothelial cells that form the restrictive blood-nerve barrier. We have developed a flow-dependent in vitro blood-nerve barrier model to study pathogenic leukocyte trafficking in real time. We also work with animal models of acute and chronic demyelinating neuritis, severe murine experimental autoimmune neuritis and spontaneous autoimmune peripheral polyneuropathy respectively. I am a recent recipient of three National Institutes of Health Independent Investigator Awards (2011-2017), a 2012 Creative and Novel Ideas in HIV Research grant from the International AIDS Society (2012-2014) and a collaborative Department of Defense award (2013-2016) to study the vascular biology of the blood-nerve barrier in normal and pathologic states, peripheral nerve inflammation and aberrant peripheral nerve remodeling using in vitro and in vivo approaches. I had previously received research grant support from the Guillain-Barre syndrome/ Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy (GBS/CIDP) Foundation International (2008-2008, 2010-2012) to study leukocyte trafficking in peripheral nerves. I have fortunately received several awards/honors for academic performance in medical school (1994-1998), Resident Travel scholarships to attend the American Academy of Neurology and American Neurological Association meetings in 2002, The 1st International Society of Neuroimmunology Dale E. McFarlin Award for Basic Neuroimmunology in 2006, Recognition by Who’s Who in Black Cleveland in 2007, an Ohio Bioscience 30 in Their 30s award in 2007 and a Faculty Teaching Award from the Department of Neurology Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas in 2012. I have authored or edited 2 books: Ubogu EE. Neurology Oral Boards Review: A Concise and Systematic Approach to Clinical Practice, Humana Press, Totowa, August 2005. ISBN: 1-58829-654-7 (paperback version), ISBN: 1-59259-984-2 (e-Book version); and Cardona AE, Ubogu EE (eds.) Chemokines: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology, Springer Science + Business Media, New York 2013. ISBN: 978-1-62703-425-8 (hardback version), ISBN: 978-1-62703-426-5 (eBook), DOI: 10.1007/978-1-62703-426-5. I have written over 50 book chapters since 2002 and presented my research national and international meetings in the United States and abroad (e.g. Singapore, Australia, India, Malaysia). I have formally mentored or advised over 30 individuals in support of their career development, or provided specialized clinical and basic laboratory research training since 2006.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
American Academy of Neurology  Member   
American Association for the Advancement of Science  Member   
American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine  Fellow   
American Neurological Association  Fellow   
International AIDS Society  Member   
New York Academy of Sciences  Member   
Peripheral Nerve Society  Member   
Society for Neuroscience  Member   
 



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Vascular Biology of the Blood-Nerve Barrier; Molecular Biology and Physiology of Peripheral Neuroinflammation
Description
Deducing the molecular and biophysical characteristics of the human blood-nerve barrier with particular emphasis on solute and macromolecular permeability, leukocyte trafficking and microbial entry into peripheral nerves in health and disease. Elucidating key molecular signaling pathways relevant to the pathogenesis of peripheral nerve inflammation, geared towards novel drug discovery for Guillain-Barre syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, vasculitic neuropathy, HIV-associated peripheral neuropathy and chronic neuropathic pain.

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Ubogu EE. Chemokine-dependent signaling pathways in the peripheral nervous system. Methods in Molecular Biology 2013; 1013:17-30  23625490 
Zafar S, Goodman JC, Ubogu EE. A male with small vessel vasculitis presenting with brachial diplegia, multiple cranial mononeuropathies and severe orthostatic hypotension in diabetes mellitus: a case report. Journal of Medical Case Reports 2013: 7:229   24083508 
Hannawi Y, Goldsmith CE, Kass JD, Olar A, Ubogu EE, Kalkonde Y. Chronic progressive axonal polyradiculoneuropathy associated with anti-CV2/CRMP5 antibodies. Journal of Clinical Neuromuscular Disease 2013;15:13-18   23965404  
Lakshmana Reddy C, Yosef N, Ubogu EE. VEGF-A165 potently induces human blood-nerve barrier endothelial cell proliferation, angiogenesis and wound healing in vitro. Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology 2013; 33:789-801  23712256 
Ubogu EE. The molecular and biophysical characterization of the human blood-nerve barrier: Current concepts. Journal of Vascular Research 2013; 50:289-303   23839247 
Chiang S, Ubogu EE. The role of chemokines in Guillain-Barré syndrome. Muscle and Nerve 2013;48:320-330   23447114 
Yosef N, Ubogu EE. An immortalized human blood-nerve barrier endothelial cell line for in vitro permeability studies. Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology 2013; 33:175-186   23104242 
Ubogu EE. Translational strategies in peripheral neuroinflammation and neurovascular repair. Translational Neuroscience 2012; 3: 373-383   23638307 
Salisbury EA, Lazard ZW, Ubogu EE, Davis AR, Olmstead-Davis EA. Transient brown adipocyte-like cells derive from peripheral nerve progenitors in response to bone morphogenetic protein 2. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2012; 1: 874-885   23283549 
Yosef N, Ubogu EE. Alpha M beta 2-integrin-intercellular adhesion molecule-1 interactions drive the flow-dependent trafficking of Guillain-Barré syndrome patient derived mononuclear leukocytes at the blood-nerve barrier in vitro. Journal of Cellular Physiology 2012; 227:3857-3875   22552879 
Yosef N, Ubogu EE. GDNF restores human blood-nerve barrier function via RET tyrosine kinase-mediated cytoskeletal reorganization. Microvascular Research 2012; 83:298-310   22326552 
Ubogu EE, Yosef N, Xia RH, Sheikh KA. Behavioral, electrophysiological and histopathological characterization of a severe murine chronic demyelinating polyneuritis model. Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System 2012; 17: 53-61   22462666 
Ubogu EE. Chemokine receptors as specific anti-inflammatory targets in peripheral nerves. Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Disorders-Drug Targets 2011;11:141-153  21476965 
Xia RH, Yosef N, Ubogu EE. Selective expression and cellular localization of pro-inflammatory chemokine ligand/receptor pairs in the sciatic nerves of a severe murine experimental autoimmune neuritis model of Guillain-Barré syndrome. Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology 2010; 36:388-398   2050055 
Xia RH, Yosef N, Ubogu EE. Dorsal caudal tail and sciatic motor nerve conduction studies in adult mice. Technical aspects and normative data. Muscle and Nerve 2010;41:850-856   20151466 
Xia RH, Yosef N, Ubogu EE. Clinical, electrophysiological and pathologic correlations in a severe murine experimental autoimmune neuritis model of Guillain-Barré syndrome. Journal of Neuroimmunology 2010; 219:54-63   20034679 
Yosef N, Xia RH, Ubogu EE. Development and characterization of a novel human in vitro blood-nerve barrier model using primary endoneurial endothelial cells. Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology 2010; 69:82-97   20010300 
 

Keywords
Blood-nerve barrier, chemokines, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, Guillain-barre syndrome, in vitro models, in vivo animal models, neuroinflammation, peripheral neuropathy, vasculitis