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Peter Baas

Peter Baas, PhD

Professor


Department: Neurobiology & Anatomy

Education

  • Postdoctoral Fellowship - Temple University
  • PhD - Michigan State University

Awards & Honors

  • Award for Excellence in Basic Science Mentoring, 91制片厂 (2023)
  • Provost Award for Outstanding Scholarly Achievement, 91制片厂 (2019)
  • Best Professor Award, 91制片厂, Graduate School (2019)
  • Office of the Provost鈥檚 Scholarly Material and Research Equipment Award (2018)
  • Best Mentor and Advisor Award, 91制片厂, Graduate School (2018)
  • Louis and Bessie Stein Fellow, 91制片厂 (2017)
  • Elias Abrutyn, MD Mentoring Award, 91制片厂 (2014)

Peter Baas, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy at 91制片厂. He also previously served as director of the Neuroscience graduate program.

Research Overview

Baas laboratory research image, microtubule arrays of the neuron.

The Baas Laboratory focuses on the underlying mechanisms of neurodegeneration and dysfunction of the nervous system, resulting from degenerative diseases, developmental disorders and injury, with the goal of developing therapies for prevention, treatment and repair. Rather than focusing on just one type of disease, disorder or injury, we focus on a common downstream target that goes awry across almost all of them. By focusing downstream, we can gain mechanistic insights and develop therapies that can broadly apply across maladies. This enables each lab member to have a distinctive project while keeping everyone on a unified mission. Specifically, the downstream target we study is the microtubule – a cytoskeletal structure that is critically important for all aspects of the architecture, intracellular transport and mobility of neurons and other cells of the nervous system.

Lab Members

Research Assistant Professor: Dr. Wenqian Yu

Research Instructor: Dr. Emanuela Piermarini

Graduate Students: Julie Schaub, Bridie Eckel, Kendra Case and Renaldo Facey

Research Interests

Degeneration, dysfunction, injury and repair of the nervous system

Research

Project 1. Neurodevelopmental Disorders

As neurons develop from mitotic precursors, they undergo a migratory journey to their final locations in the brain or elsewhere in the body. Axons develop with growth cones heralding their journey to their targets, and dendrites form as well. Both axons and dendrites undergo extensive branching, pruning and remodeling. All of these events are microtubule-based, with the relevant proteins and pathways vulnerable to disorders such as autism. For over 30 years, we have worked to elucidate the mechanisms, proteins and pathways of neurodevelopment to enable us to have unique insights into such neurodevelopmental disorders that we are now studying.

Project 2. Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia

Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is (usually) an adult-onset disease that most often arises due to autosomal dominant mutations of the SPAST gene, which encodes for a microtubule-severing protein called spastin. The patients have a pronounced gait deficiency and eventually become confined to a wheelchair, due to corticospinal degeneration. Our focus on microtubules has provided us unique insights into the etiology of the disease, which we are studying with various experimental models. In the past we have used cultured rodent neurons and Drosophila, but now we are using a mouse model for HSP that we have developed that displays the hallmark characteristics of the disease. We are conducting behavioral, anatomical and histochemical studies, pursuing molecular mechanisms, and are now poised to begin testing therapies. We also have developed human-induced pluripotent cell lines (hiPSC) from patients with the disease, which we are differentiating into neurons, for further analyses of mechanisms and potential therapies.

 and read about our work. 

Project 3. Disease of Tau

Tau is a microtubule-associated protein that goes awry in Alzheimer’s disease, coming off the microtubules to form neurofibrillary tangles. Many other diseases also involve abnormalities to tau including frontotemporal dementia, supranuclear palsy, and Parkinson’s disease, as well as injuries such as traumatic brain injury. Most researchers in the field believe that microtubules become destabilized in tau diseases, but our hypothesis is different – we posit that tau is important for keeping much of the microtubule content of the axon labile and dynamic and that tau diseases cause the loss of the labile/dynamic component of the microtubule array. We also posit that microtubules become disorganized in the axon as a result of toxic properties of the abnormal tau. We are using mouse models and hiPSC lines from human patients to test our hypotheses and pursue novel therapies.

Project 4. Gulf War Illness

A substantial portion of the veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War suffer from a disease called Gulf War illness (GWI). The symptoms are mainly of the CNS (central nervous system), including memory deficits, sleep disorders, headache and fatigue. Our lab is part of the Gulf War Illness Consortium, a group of researchers and physicians from around the country who work collaboratively to understand the etiology of this mysterious disease and develop therapies. The disease seems to have arisen from a combination of stress of the battlefield together with various toxicants such as the neurotoxin sarin as well as pesticides. We are using rodent models and hiPSC lines (that we developed) in 2-dimensional culture and 3-dimensional cerebral organoids to test our hypothesis that microtubule abnormalities underlie the neurodegeneration and develop novel therapies accordingly.

Read about our work in the College of Medicine Alumni Magazine and

Project 5. Spinal Cord Injury

Our laboratory is part of the Marion Murray Spinal Cord Research Center, which is a multidisciplinary group of labs at 91制片厂 aimed at developing novel approaches for improving the lives of people suffering from spinal cord injuries (SCI). Mostly in collaboration with our partner labs, we are striving to use our knowledge of microtubule-based pathways to prompt injured nerves in the spinal cord to regenerate in ways that lead to functional recovery.

Mentoring

“Unbeknownst to her, Hemalatha Muralidharan (who recently completed her PhD work with Dr. Baas) was listening to her future mentor when she heard Peter Baas, PhD, speak at a conference she attended as an undergraduate in Mumbai, India. The topic, and his way of talking about it, piqued her interest. Years later, when Hema came to the College of Medicine to pursue her PhD in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies, she visited the Baas Lab and found both a home for her research and a mentor who inspired her.”

Read more

Drexel neuroscience student Hemalatha Muralidharan with Drexel faculty, Peter Baas, PhD

In the Media

Breakthrough on Gene Therapy for Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia
Drexel News, December 15, 2025


The Transmitter (August 16, 2024)


Drexel Now (December 20, 2021)


Spastic Paraplegia Foundation YouTube channel (June 28, 2019)


Exel Magazine (2019)


EXEL Magazine (2018)

Additional articles...


GEN News (June 29, 2018)


Science Daily (June 28, 2018)


DrexelNow (June 28, 2018)

Reprogramming Veterans' Blood Cells to Study Gulf War Illness
College of Medicine Alumni Magazine (Winter 2017/2018)

Gulf War Syndrome DNA Damage Found by Rutgers, VA Scientists
Laboratory Equipment (October 22, 2017)

Gulf War Syndrome Could Be Treated with Enzyme Inhibitor
Laboratory Equipment (June 6, 2017)

Publications

Selected Publications


Piermarini E, Guha S, Qiang L, Gray-Edwards H, Sena-Esteves M, Baas PW
Mol Ther. 2025 Nov 26:S1525-0016(25)00968-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.11.029. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41311060


Fischer I, Baas PW
Front Mol Neurosci. 2025 Oct 28;18:1707820. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2025.1707820. PMID: 41229558; PMCID: PMC12602400


Patil A, Guha S, Isiltan I, Muralidharan H, Madugula K, Baas PW
FASEB J. 2025 Jun 15;39(11):e70683. doi: 10.1096/fj.202500675RR. PMID: 40458980

鈥淭au and MAP6 establish labile and stable domains on microtubules鈥
Kirimtay K, Huang W, Sun X, Qiang L, Wang DV, Sprouse CT, Craig EM, Baas PW
iScience. 2025 Jan 29;28(3):111785. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.111785. PMID: 40040809; PMCID: PMC11879653

鈥淎ntagonistic roles of tau and MAP6 in regulating neuronal development鈥
Sun X, Yu W, Baas PW, Toyooka K, Qiang L
J Cell Sci. 2024 Oct 1;137(19):jcs261966. doi: 10.1242/jcs.261966. Epub 2024 Oct 7. PMID: 39257379; PMCID: PMC11491807

鈥淩eevaluating tau reduction as a therapeutic approach for tauopathies: Insights and perspectives鈥
Sun X, Ogbolu VC, Baas PW, Qiang L
Cytoskeleton (Hoboken). 2024 Jan;81(1):57-62. doi: 10.1002/cm.21790. Epub 2023 Oct 11. PMID: 37819557; PMCID: PMC10843461


Baas PW, Sullivan KA, Terry AV, Case K, Yates PL, Sun X, Raghupathi R, Huber BR, Qiang L
Cytoskeleton (Hoboken). 2024 Jan;81(1):41-46. doi: 10.1002/cm.21786. Epub 2023 Sep 13. PMID: 37702426; PMCID: PMC10841075

Additional publications...


Bloom GS, Baas PW
Cytoskeleton (Hoboken). 2023 Aug 28. doi: 10.1002/cm.21783. Online ahead of print.PMID: 37638689


Eckel BD, Cruz R Jr, Craig EM, Baas PW
Brain Res Bull. 2023 Jan;192:208-215. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2022.11.013. Epub 2022 Nov 25.PMID: 36442694


Muralidharan H, Guha S, Madugula K, Patil A, Bennison SA, Sun X, Toyo-Oka K, Baas PW
J Neurosci. 2022 Mar 16;42(11):2149-2165. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1708-21.2022. Epub 2022 Jan 19.PMID: 35046122


Piermarini E, Akarsu S, Connors T, Kneussel M, Lane MA, Morfini G, Karabay A, Baas PW, Qiang L
Hum Mol Genet. 2022 Jun 4;31(11):1844-1859. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddab367.PMID: 34935948


Yates PL, Patil A, Sun X, Niceforo A, Gill R, Callahan P, Beck W, Piermarini E, Terry AV, Sullivan KA, Baas PW, Qiang L
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2021 Sep 27. doi: 10.1007/s00018-021-03942-3. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34580742


Mohan N, Qiang L, Morfini G, Baas PW
Brain Sci. 2021 Aug 18;11(8):1081. doi: 10.3390/brainsci11081081. PMID: 34439700; PMCID: PMC8394973

""
Guha S, Patil A, Muralidharan H, Baas PW
Neurosci Lett. May 14;753:135867. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2021.135867. Epub 2021 Apr 1.PMID: 33812935 (2021)

""
Wu D, Jin Y, Shapiro TM, Hinduja A, Baas PW, Tom VJ
Nat Commun. Nov 30;11(1):6131. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19914-3.PMID: 33257677 (2020)

""
Fischer I, Baas PW
Trends Neurosci. Jul;43(7):493-504. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2020.04.007. Epub 2020 May 17.PMID: 32434664 (2020)

""
Baas PW
Cytoskeleton (Hoboken). Mar;77(3-4):39. doi: 10.1002/cm.21584.PMID: 32259406 (2020)

""
Qiang L, Piermarini E, Baas PW
Cytoskeleton (Hoboken). Apr;76(4):289-297. doi: 10.1002/cm.21528. Epub 2019 Jul 3.PMID: 31108029 (2019)


Baas PW, Qiang L
Trends Cell Biol. 2019 Mar 28. pii: S0962-8924(19)30038-8. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2019.02.007. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PMID: 30929793


Muralidharan H, Baas PW
J Neurosci. 2019 Feb 25. pii: 3099-18. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3099-18.2019. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 30804089


Matamoros AJ, Tom VJ, Wu D, Rao Y, Sharp DJ, Baas PW
J Neurosci. 2019 Mar 13;39(11):2011-2024. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1888-18.2018. Epub 2019 Jan 15. PMID: 30647150


Qiang L, Piermarini E, Muralidharan H, Yu W, Leo L, Hennessy LE, Fernandes S, Connors T, Yates PL, Swift M, Zholudeva LV, Lane MA, Morfini G, Alexander GM, Heiman-Patterson TD, Baas PW
Hum Mol Genet. 2019 Apr 1;28(7):1136-1152. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddy419. PMID: 30520996


Dong Z, Wu S, Zhu C, Wang X, Li Y, Chen X, Liu D, Qiang L, Baas PW, Liu M
Traffic. 2019 Jan;20(1):71-81. doi: 10.1111/tra.12621. Epub 2018 Nov 29. PMID: 30411440


Qiang L, Sun X, Austin TO, Muralidharan H, Jean DC, Liu M, Yu W, Baas PW
Curr Biol. 2018 Jul 9;28(13):2181-2189.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.045. Epub 2018 Jun 28. PMID: 30008334


Rao AN, Baas PW
Trends Neurosci. 2018 Feb;41(2):77-88. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2017.11.002. Epub 2017 Nov 30. Review. PMID: 29198454


Craig EM, Yeung HT, Rao AN, and Baas PW
Molecular Biology of the Cell 28(23):3271-3285. doi:10.1091/mbc.E17-06-0380 (November 2017)

"Nanoparticle Delivery of Fidgetin siRNA as a Microtubule-based Therapy to Augment Nerve Regeneration" [PDF]
Austin TO, Matamoros AJ, Friedman JM, Friedman AJ, Nacharaju P, Yu W, Sharp DJ & Baas PW
Scientific Reports, 7:9675, DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-10250-z (August 2017)

"Cytoplasmic Dynein Transports Axonal Microtubules in a Polarity-Sorting Manner" [PDF]
Rao AN, Patil A, Black MM, Craig EM, Myers KA, Yeung HT & Baas PW
Cell Reports, 19, 2210–2219 (June 2017)


Rao AN, Patil A, Brodnik ZD, Qiang L, España RA, Sullivan KA, Black MM, Baas PW
Traffic, 18(7):433-441. doi: 10.1111/tra.12489. Epub 2017 May 25 (July 2017)


Qiang L, Rao AN, Mostoslavsky G, James MF, Comfort N, Sullivan K, Baas PW
Neurology, 88(20):1968-1975. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000003938 (May 16, 2017)


Solowska JM, Rao AN, and Baas PW
Molecular Biology of the Cell 28(13):1728-1737. doi:10.1091/mbc.E17-01-0047 (May 2017)


Lanfranco Leo, Carina Weissmann, Matthew Burns, Minsu Kang, Yuyu Song, Liang Qiang, Scott T. Brady, Peter W. Baas, and Gerardo Morfini
Human Molecular Genetics, doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddx125 (epub April 7, 2017)


Matamoros AJ, Baas PW
Brain Res Bull. 126(Pt 3):217-225. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2016.06.016. Epub 2016 Jun 27. (September 2016)


Baas PW, Rao AN, Matamoros AJ, Leo L
Cytoskeleton, 73:442–460 (September 2016)


P.W. Baas, K.A. Myers, L. Qiang, V.C. Nadar
In: Reference Module in Biomedical Sciences, pub: Elsevier B.V. (2014)


Lin S, Liu M, Mozgova OI, Yu W, Baas PW
J Neurosci. 32(40):14033-49 (Oct 3, 2012).


Hu J, Bai X, Bowen JR, Dolat L, Korobova F, Yu W, Baas PW, Svitkina T, Gallo G, Spiliotis ET.
Curr Biol. 22(12):1109-15 (Jun 19, 2012).


Nadar VC, Lin S, Baas PW
J Neurosci. 32(17):5783-94 (Apr 25, 2012).


Tang-Schomer MD, Johnson VE, Baas PW, Stewart W, Smith DH
Exp Neurol. 233(1):364-72 (Jan 2012).

"Hooks and Comets: The Story of Microtubule Polarity Orientation in the Neuron"
Baas PW, Lin S
Developmental Neurobiology; 71(6):403-418 (June 21, 2011).

"Kinesin-5, a mitotic microtubule-associated motor protein, modulates neuronal migration"
Falnikar A, Tole S, and Baas PW
Molecular Biology of the Cell; 22:1561-1574 (May 1, 2011).

"Inhibition of kinesin-5, a microtubule-based motor protein, as a strategy for enhancing regeneration of adult axons"
Lin S, Liu M, Son YJ, Himes BT, Snow DM, Yu W, Baas PW
Traffic; 12:269-286 (Jan 17, 2011).

"Strategies for diminishing katanin-based loss of microtubules in tauopathic neurodegenerative diseases"
Sudo H, Baas PW
Human Molecular Genetics; 20(4):763-778 (Feb 15, 2011).

"Kinesin-12, a mitotic microtubule-associated motor protein, impacts axonal growth, navigation, and branching"
Liu M, Nadar VC, Kozielski F, Kozlowska M, Yu W, Baas PW
Journal of Neuroscience; 30(44):14896-906 (Nov 3, 2010).

"Evaluation of loss of function as an explanation for SPG4-based hereditary spastic paraplegia"
Solowska JM, Garbern JY, Baas PW
Human Molecular Genetics;19(14):2767-2779 (Jul 15, 2010).

"Acetylation of microtubules influences their sensitivity to severing by katanin in neurons and fibroblasts"
Sudo H and Baas PW
Journal of Neuroscience; 30(21):7215–7226 (May 26, 2010).

"Mechanical breaking of microtubules in axons during dynamic stretch injury underlies delayed elasticity, microtubule disassembly, and axon degeneration"
Tang-Schomer MD, Patel AR, Baas PW, and Smith DH
FASEB Journal; (5):1401-1410 (May 24 2010).

"Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor Elicits Formation of Interstitial Axonal Branches via Enhanced Severing of Microtubules"
Qiang L, Yu W, Liu M, Solowska JM, and Baas PW
Molecular Biology of the Cell; 21(2):334 –344 (Jan 15, 2010).

"Kinesin-5 is Essential for Growth-Cone Turning"
Nadar VC, Ketschek A, Myers KA, Gallo G, and Baas PW
Current Biology; 18(24):1972-1977 (Dec 23, 2008).

"The Microtubule-severing Proteins Spastin and Katanin Participate Differently in the Formation of Axonal Branches"
Yu W, Qiang L, Solowska JM, Karabay A, Korulu S, and Baas PW
Molecular Biology of the Cell;19(4):1485-1498 (Apr 2008).

Presentations

鈥淢icrotubules in Nervous System Development and Disease鈥 (chaired) and 鈥淢icrotubule Basis of Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia鈥 (presented)
Meeting of the International Society for Neurochemistry in Honolulu, Hawaii (August 30, 2022)


2022 SPF Conference (July 2022)


Contact Information


Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy
2900 W. Queen Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19129
Phone: 215.991.8298
Fax: 215.843.9082