Dr. Jason Cannon is a neurotoxicologist by training, and his research interests are primarily in mechanistic investigations on how environmental exposures contribute to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and identifying new therapeutic approaches. He has extensive expertise in designing and characterizing both genetic and neurotoxicant-based models of neurological disease. He has published extensively on the use of stereotaxic surgery, neurobehavioral assessment, neurochemical analysis and histological techniques to characterize neurodegeneration and neuroprotection. His current work focuses on: 1) potential influence of dietary factors on Parkinson's disease (PD) etiology and 2) autophagic disruption as a therapeutic target in PD. To overcome translational limitations, he utilizes multiple in vivo models to test hypotheses.