# Samantha Butler > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Samantha_Butler > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Samantha_Butler.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Butler > Source revision: 1352674624 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American academic}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Samantha Butler | image = File:Samantha Butler Wikipedia Headshot.jpg | fields = Developmental Biology, Neuroscience, Stem Cell Biology | workplaces = University of California, Los Angeles | alma_mater = [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge), [Princeton](/source/Princeton) | doctoral_advisor = Yasushi Hiromi | academic_advisors = Jane Dodd | known_for = Understanding the mechanisms that establish and regenerate the spinal cord | website = {{URL|https://butlerlab.neurobio.ucla.edu/}} }} '''Samantha J. Butler''' is a British American developmental neuroscientist at [University of California, Los Angeles](/source/University_of_California%2C_Los_Angeles). She studies how the sensory interneurons in the [spinal cord](/source/spinal_cord) are first established during development and then connect to form circuits.{{Cite web |date=2024-11-14 |title=Homepage {{!}} Butler Research Lab |url=https://butlerlab.neurobio.ucla.edu |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=butlerlab.neurobio.ucla.edu |language=en}} Her research goal is to develop drugs and stem cell-based therapies that help people with spinal cord injuries and nerve damage regain sensation. == Early life and education == Butler grew up in Oxford, England, and is the granddaughter of astrophysicist, [Fred Hoyle](/source/Fred_Hoyle).{{Cite journal |date=December 3, 2013 |title=Working to grow new wiring |url= |journal=Science News Prime |volume=2 |issue=45 |pages= |doi= |issn=}} She attended [Headington Rye Oxford](/source/Headington_School), where she was taught mathematics by Lily Atiyah, the wife of [Michael Atiyah](/source/Michael_Atiyah), also a mathematician. After graduating, she spent her gap year first taking mathematics modules at [Oxford Brookes University](/source/Oxford_Brookes_University) and then working at the [Tata Institute of Fundamental Research](/source/Tata_Institute_of_Fundamental_Research), Mumbai, India.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}} While reading Natural Sciences as an undergraduate at the [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge), Butler became interested in developmental genetics. She completed a Part II in Genetics (1990), studying mutations in the ''[ultrabithorax](/source/ultrabithorax)'' gene, part of the Hox complex in ''[Drosophila melanogaster](/source/Drosophila_melanogaster)'', with [Michael Akam](/source/Michael_Akam).{{citation needed|date=May 2025}} In 1996, she received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from [Princeton University](/source/Princeton_University), advised by Yasushi Hiromi. Her doctoral studies in developmental genetics, focused on charactering an enhancer trap line (h214), that was a candidate for encoding specific neural identity in the developing ''Drosophila'' eye.{{Cite web |title=Molecular and genetic characterisation ofh214: A gene expressed in the R7 photoreceptor cell throughout the development of the compound eye in Drosophila melanogaster - ProQuest |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/304260401 |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=www.proquest.com |id={{ProQuest|304260401}} |language=en}} The associated gene was found to be a [cell adhesion molecule](/source/cell_adhesion_molecule) and was thus called "klingon."{{Cite journal |last1=Butler |first1=Samantha J. |last2=Ray |first2=Sandip |last3=Hiromi |first3=Yasushi |date=1997-02-15 |title=klingon, a novel member of the Drosophila immunoglobulin superfamily, is required for the development of the R7 photoreceptor neuron |url=https://journals.biologists.com/dev/article-abstract/124/4/781/39592/klingon-a-novel-member-of-the-Drosophila?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=Development |volume=124 |issue=4 |pages=781–792 |doi=10.1242/dev.124.4.781 |pmid=9043060 |issn=0950-1991|url-access=subscription }} From 1997 to 2003, Butler worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Jane Dodd at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University), in the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics. At around this time, inspired by a heartfelt plea by a paraplegic man at a conference, Butler switched model systems to work on [axon guidance](/source/axon_guidance) mechanisms in the developing vertebrate spinal cord. Her studies showed that the roof plate secretes a diffusible repellent that orients commissural axons away from the dorsal midline.{{Cite journal |last1=Augsburger |first1=Adela |last2=Schuchardt |first2=Anita |last3=Hoskins |first3=Sally |last4=Dodd |first4=Jane |last5=Butler |first5=Samantha |date=1999-09-01 |title=BMPs as Mediators of Roof Plate Repulsion of Commissural Neurons |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627300808272 |journal=Neuron |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=127–141 |doi=10.1016/S0896-6273(00)80827-2 |pmid=10677032 |issn=0896-6273|doi-access=free }} Butler further demonstrated that this repellent is mediated by the [bone morphogenic protein](/source/Bone_morphogenetic_protein) (BMP) growth family, the first studies to demonstrate that growth factors could act as axon guidance signals.{{Cite journal |last1=Butler |first1=Samantha J. |last2=Dodd |first2=Jane |date=2003-05-08 |title=A Role for BMP Heterodimers in Roof Plate-Mediated Repulsion of Commissural Axons |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S089662730300254X |journal=Neuron |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=389–401 |doi=10.1016/S0896-6273(03)00254-X |pmid=12741987 |issn=0896-6273|doi-access=free }} Together, these findings suggested that the same signal can reiteratively specify different cellular processes for neurons at different stages of their development. During this time, Butler was funded by a fellowship from the [Paralyzed Veterans of America](/source/Paralyzed_Veterans_of_America). == Research == From 2004 to 2013, Butler was an assistant professor in the Biological Sciences department at the [University of Southern California](/source/University_of_Southern_California). In 2013, Butler moved to the [David Geffen School of Medicine](/source/David_Geffen_School_of_Medicine_at_UCLA) at the [University of California, Los Angeles](/source/University_of_California%2C_Los_Angeles) where she is a professor in the Department of Neurobiology and the Vice Chair for Community. She has held the Eleanor I. Leslie Chair in Pioneering Brain Research.{{Cite web |title=The Eleanor I. Leslie Term Chair in Pioneering Brain Research – UCLA Brain Research Institute (BRI) |url=https://bri.ucla.edu/grants-and-fellowships/eleanor-i-leslie-term-chair-in-pioneering-brain-research/ |access-date=2025-05-22 |language=en-US}} Butler's research focus is to understand the mechanisms that establish and regenerate neural circuitry. She has identified the signaling pathways that permit BMPs to direct [cell fate](/source/Cell_fate_determination) and axon guidance decisions, two strikingly different processes in the generation of neural circuits.{{Cite journal |last1=Yamauchi |first1=Ken |last2=Phan |first2=Keith D. |last3=Butler |first3=Samantha J. |date=2008-03-15 |title=BMP type I receptor complexes have distinct activities mediating cell fate and axon guidance decisions |url=https://journals.biologists.com/dev/article-abstract/135/6/1119/65056/BMP-type-I-receptor-complexes-have-distinct?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=Development |volume=135 |issue=6 |pages=1119–1128 |doi=10.1242/dev.012989 |pmid=18272594 |issn=0950-1991|url-access=subscription }} She then showed that BMPs do not act as [morphogen](/source/morphogen)s to pattern the dorsal spinal cord. Rather, different BMP ligands promote progenitor patterning and/or neuronal differentiation to direct a unique range of dorsal cellular identities.{{Cite journal |last1=Andrews |first1=Madeline G |last2=del Castillo |first2=Lorenzo M |last3=Ochoa-Bolton |first3=Eliana |last4=Yamauchi |first4=Ken |last5=Smogorzewski |first5=Jan |last6=Butler |first6=Samantha J |date=2017-09-19 |editor-last=Bronner |editor-first=Marianne |title=BMPs direct sensory interneuron identity in the developing spinal cord using signal-specific not morphogenic activities |journal=eLife |volume=6 |article-number=e30647 |doi=10.7554/eLife.30647 |doi-access=free |pmid=28925352 |pmc=5605194 |issn=2050-084X}} By dissecting the developmental mechanisms by which BMPs direct cell fates, Butler has established the first directed differentiation protocols that generate spinal sensory interneurons from mouse and human{{Cite journal |last1=Gupta |first1=Sandeep |last2=Sivalingam |first2=Daniel |last3=Hain |first3=Samantha |last4=Makkar |first4=Christian |last5=Sosa |first5=Enrique |last6=Clark |first6=Amander |last7=Butler |first7=Samantha J. |date=2018-02-13 |title=Deriving Dorsal Spinal Sensory Interneurons from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells |journal=Stem Cell Reports |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=390–405 |doi=10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.12.012 |pmid=29337120 |pmc=5832443 |issn=2213-6711}}{{Cite journal |last1=Gupta |first1=Sandeep |last2=Yamauchi |first2=Ken |last3=Novitch |first3=Bennett G. |last4=Butler |first4=Samantha J. |date=2021-03-19 |title=Derivation of dorsal spinal sensory interneurons from human pluripotent stem cells |journal=STAR Protocols |volume=2 |issue=1 |article-number=100319 |doi=10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100319 |pmid=33659900 |pmc=7890043 |issn=2666-1667}} [stem cell](/source/stem_cell)s. These protocols make stem cell''-''derived sensory interneurons that are transcriptionally indistinguishable from their endogenous counterparts,{{Cite journal |last1=Gupta |first1=Sandeep |last2=Kawaguchi |first2=Riki |last3=Heinrichs |first3=Eric |last4=Gallardo |first4=Salena |last5=Castellanos |first5=Stephanie |last6=Mandric |first6=Igor |last7=Novitch |first7=Bennett G. |last8=Butler |first8=Samantha J. |date=2022-07-19 |title=In vitro atlas of dorsal spinal interneurons reveals Wnt signaling as a critical regulator of progenitor expansion |journal=Cell Reports |volume=40 |issue=3 |article-number=111119 |doi=10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111119 |pmid=35858555 |pmc=9414195 |issn=2211-1247}} and will facilitate developing cellular replacement therapies to reestablish sensory connections in injured patients.{{Cite web |title=UCLA researchers find a way to repair nerve damage with stem cells |url=https://dailybruin.com/2018/02/05/ucla-researchers-find-a-way-to-repair-nerve-damage-with-stem-cells |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=Daily Bruin}}{{Cite web |last=Ring |first=Karen |date=2018-01-11 |title=UCLA scientists make sensory nerves from human stem cells for the first time |url=https://blog.cirm.ca.gov/2018/01/11/ucla-scientists-make-sensory-nerves-from-human-stem-cells-for-the-first-time/ |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=The Stem Cellar |language=en}} Butler has also identified a critical mechanism that controls the rate of axon outgrowth during embryogenesis and axon regeneration.{{Cite journal |last1=Phan |first1=Keith D. |last2=Hazen |first2=Virginia M. |last3=Frendo |first3=Michele |last4=Jia |first4=Zhengping |last5=Butler |first5=Samantha J. |date=2010-11-17 |title=The Bone Morphogenetic Protein Roof Plate Chemorepellent Regulates the Rate of Commissural Axonal Growth |url=https://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/46/15430.long |journal=Journal of Neuroscience |language=en |volume=30 |issue=46 |pages=15430–15440 |doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4117-10.2010 |issn=0270-6474 |pmid=21084599|pmc=3064494 }} Manipulating this mechanism permits more rapid functional recovery after a nerve crush,{{Cite journal |last1=Frendo |first1=Michele E. |last2=Silva |first2=Alexandra da |last3=Phan |first3=Keith D. |last4=Riche |first4=Soizic |last5=Butler |first5=Samantha J. |date=2019-11-20 |title=The Cofilin/Limk1 Pathway Controls the Growth Rate of Both Developing and Regenerating Motor Axons |url=https://www.jneurosci.org/content/39/47/9316 |journal=Journal of Neuroscience |language=en |volume=39 |issue=47 |pages=9316–9327 |doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0648-19.2019 |issn=0270-6474 |pmid=31578231|pmc=6867821 }} thereby offering the hope of improving recovery times for patients with serious peripheral [nerve](/source/nerve) injuries.{{Cite web |title=Researchers identify molecular process that could accelerate recovery from nerve injuries |url=https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/molecular-process-accelerates-nerve-injury-recovery |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=UCLA |language=en-us}} Butler reignited the debate about the mechanism by which [netrin1](/source/Netrin_1), the first guidance cue identified in vertebrates, functions in the spinal cord.{{Cite news |title=Study overturns seminal research about the developing nervous system |url=https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/study-overturns-seminal-research-about-the-developing-nervous-system |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250328135841/https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/study-overturns-seminal-research-about-the-developing-nervous-system |archive-date=2025-03-28 |access-date=2025-05-22 |work=UCLA |language=en-us |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Samjbutler |date=2017-05-16 |title=The evolution of an axon guidance model: from chemotaxis to haptotaxis |url=https://thenode.biologists.com/evolution-axon-guidance-model-chemotaxis-haptotaxis/research/ |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=the Node |language=en}} Her studies have demonstrated that netrin1 promotes axon growth not by long-range [chemotaxis](/source/chemotaxis), but rather by short-range [haptotaxis](/source/haptotaxis), the directed growth of cells along an adhesive surface.{{Cite journal |last1=Varadarajan |first1=Supraja G. |last2=Kong |first2=Jennifer H. |last3=Phan |first3=Keith D. |last4=Kao |first4=Tzu-Jen |last5=Panaitof |first5=S. Carmen |last6=Cardin |first6=Julie |last7=Eltzschig |first7=Holger |last8=Kania |first8=Artur |last9=Novitch |first9=Bennett G. |last10=Butler |first10=Samantha J. |date=2017-05-17 |title=Netrin1 Produced by Neural Progenitors, Not Floor Plate Cells, Is Required for Axon Guidance in the Spinal Cord |journal=Neuron |volume=94 |issue=4 |pages=790–799.e3 |doi=10.1016/j.neuron.2017.03.007 |pmid=28434801 |pmc=5576449 |issn=0896-6273}}{{Cite journal |last1=Varadarajan |first1=Supraja G. |last2=Butler |first2=Samantha J. |date=2017-10-01 |title=Netrin1 establishes multiple boundaries for axon growth in the developing spinal cord |journal=Developmental Biology |volume=430 |issue=1 |pages=177–187 |doi=10.1016/j.ydbio.2017.08.001 |pmid=28780049 |pmc=5786155 |issn=0012-1606}} These studies suggest that neural progenitors have an intrinsic capacity to form axon growth tracts, a critical insight for promoting directed, fasciculated regenerative axonal growth.  Butler has continued to identify unexpected roles for netrin1,{{Cite web |title=Scientists discover 'entirely unanticipated' role of protein netrin1 in spinal cord development |url=https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/scientists-discover-entirely-unanticipated-role-of-protein-netrin1-in-spinal-cord-development |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=UCLA |language=en-us}} most recently finding that the polarized distribution of netrin1 in the developing spinal cord also acts as a boundary to restrict BMP signaling and thereby regulate cell fate decisions.{{Cite journal |last1=Alvarez |first1=Sandy |last2=Gupta |first2=Sandeep |last3=Mercado-Ayon |first3=Yesica |last4=Honeychurch |first4=Kaitlyn |last5=Rodriguez |first5=Cristian |last6=Kawaguchi |first6=Riki |last7=Butler |first7=Samantha J. |date=2024-11-26 |title=Netrin1 patterns the dorsal spinal cord through modulation of Bmp signaling |journal=Cell Reports |volume=43 |issue=11 |article-number=114954 |doi=10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114954 |pmid=39547237 |pmc=11756817 |issn=2211-1247}} == Selected honors and awards == * 2000 Spinal Cord Research Foundation/[Paralyzed Veterans of America](/source/Paralyzed_Veterans_of_America) Fellowship * 2017 Rose Hills Foundation Scholar * 2018 Eleanor I. Leslie Chair in Pioneering Brain Research * 2019 JCCC-[BSCRC](/source/UCLA_Broad_Stem_Cell_Research_Center) Ablon Scholar{{Cite web |date=2023-10-03 |title=2019 Ablon Scholar {{!}} Butler Research Lab |url=https://butlerlab.neurobio.ucla.edu/2019-ablon-scholar |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=butlerlab.neurobio.ucla.edu |language=en}} * 2022 UCLA Molecular Biology Institute Mentoring Award for faculty{{Cite web |date=2024-02-15 |title=Professor Samantha Butler Wins Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award {{!}} Neurobiology Department |url=https://neurobio.ucla.edu/professor-samantha-butler-wins-diversity-equity-and |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=neurobio.ucla.edu |language=en}} * 2022 Standing member, NDPR study section, NIH{{Cite web |title=NDPR {{!}} NIH Center for Scientific Review |url=https://public.csr.nih.gov/StudySections/DNDA/BN/NDPR |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=public.csr.nih.gov}} * 2023 Faculty/Staff Partnership Award, UCLA Staff Assembly{{Cite web |title=2023 Recipients |url=https://staffassembly.ucla.edu/past-recipients/2023-recipients/ |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=UCLA Staff Assembly |language=en-US}} * 2024 Marcus Foundation Award{{Cite web |title=UCLA receives $2 million to develop regenerative medicine therapies for spinal cord injury |url=https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-receives-2-million-to-develop-regenerative-medicine-therapies-spinal-cord-injury |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=UCLA |language=en-us}} == References == {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Samantha}} Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:American neuroscientists Category:British neuroscientists Category:American women neuroscientists Category:British women neuroscientists Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge Category:Princeton University alumni Category:David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA faculty Category:American women academics Category:British women academics Category:21st-century American women Category:21st-century British women scientists --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Samantha Butler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Butler) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Butler?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.