Marc R. Freeman

Marc Freeman is the Director of the Vollum Institute at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). The Vollum Institute is dedicated to basic research that will lead to new treatments for neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Since 2003, the Freeman laboratory has studied the development of glial cells and their roles in nervous system assembly, circuit physiology and behavior, along with axon biology and neurodegeneration. The pursuit of a deep mechanistic understanding of glial cell biology and neuron-glia signaling in the healthy and diseased nervous system creates knowledge that helps unravel fundamental principles of nervous system physiology and determine how these processes go awry in disease. Key discoveries from the group include demonstrating in vivo roles for astrocytes in processing information in neural circuits, functional analysis of key engulfment receptors like Draper (MEGF10), and identification of dSarm/SARM1 as an axon death gene.

Freeman completed his B.S.c at Eastern Connecticut State University, received his Ph.D. at Yale University (with John Carlson), and carried out his postdoctoral studies at the University of Oregon (with Chris Doe). He was an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, a Smith Family New Investigator, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist, and an Investigator of the HHMI. He started his laboratory in the Department of Neurobiology at UMass Chan Medical School in 2004, where he was the Vice Chairman of Neurobiology.