Education

Graduate School
Biology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, 1997
Post Graduate School
Oncological Science, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, 2002
Fellowship
Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston (now known as McGovern Medical School at UTHealth), 2006

Areas of Interest

Research Interests

**Faculty profiles will only highlight current information (the last three years). Please see the faculty’s CV for more information.

Current Grant Support

Grant Title: The effect of Anti-GFAP antibodies on sensory function in a mid-thoracic spinal contusion rat model.
Co-PI: Juan J. Herrera
Funding Agency: TIRR-Mission Connect
Requested Funds: $60,000

Grant Title: Examining drug efficacy for the treatment of pain after spinal cord injury
PI: Juan J. Herrera
Funding Agency: Lexicon Pharmaceuticals
Requested Funds: $147,674

Past Grant Support

Grant Title: Targeting EPAC after spinal cord injury to relieve chronic pain, as assessed by fMRI imaging.
Co-PI: Juan J. Herrera
Funding Agency: TIRR-Mission Connect
Requested Funds: $60,000

Grant Title: Role of macrophage infiltration and inflammatory injury to gastrointestinal motility disorders after spinal cord injury.
Co-PI: Juan J. Herrera
Funding Agency: TIRR-Mission Connect
Requested Funds: $40,000

Grant Title: Using hydrophilic carbon clusters to improve gastrointestinal function following spinal cord injury.
PI: Juan J. Herrera
Funding Agency: TIRR – Mission Connect
Requested Funds: $10,000

Grant Title: Promoting Gastrointestinal Vascular Stabilization to Restore Gut Function Following Spinal Cord Injury
PI: Juan J. Herrera, Ph.D.
Department of Defense
Funding Date: 9/26/13 – 3/25/17
Requested Funds: $399,035

Publications

**Faculty profiles will only highlight current information (the last three years). Please see the faculty’s CV for more information.

 

Refereed Original Articles:

  1. J. J. Herrera, Kurt Bockhorst, Shakuntala Kondraganti, Laura Stertz, Jao Quevedo, and Ponnada A. Narayana. Acute White Matter Tract Damage after Frontal Mild traumatic Brain Injury. Journal of Neurotrauma, 34 (2), 291-299, 2017.

 

Presentations:

  1. “Post-contrast Signal Enhancement in Dentate Nucleus on Unenhanced T1 Weighted MRI in Rodents.” Presented at the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2017. Honolulu, HI.
  2. “Gastrointestinal vascular permeability after spinal cord injury.” Presented at the annual National Neurotrauma Society Symposium, Salt Lake City, UT, 2017.
  3. “SCI Increases evoked pain as suggested by a novel operant test and peripheral nociceptor hyperexcitability independent of EPAC2 in mice.” Presented at the annual Mission Connect Scientific Symposium, Houston, TX 2017.
  4. “Reduction of allodynia following SCI using antioxidant nanoparticles.” Presented at the annual Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA, 2018.
  5. “EPAC1 and EPAC2 Promotes SCI-induced Nociceptor Hyperexcitability That Contributes to Chronic Pain.” Gulf Coast Consortia Translational Pain Research 9th Annual Symposium, Houston, TX, 2019.

 

INVITED RESEARCH LECTURE

  1. “Antioxidant Carbon Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Pain after SCI.” Gulf Coast Consortia Translational Pain Research 9th Annual Symposium, Houston, TX, 2019.