Baohua Zhao obtained her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biology from Shanxi University, China. Before joining Dr. Timothy Vartanian’s lab, she worked as a Research Technician in the lab of Dr. Robert F. Margolskee at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to explore the molecular mechanism of the human sweet taste receptor T1R1 and T1R3 upon different sweetener treatment. Later, in Dr. George Diaz’s lab at the Icahn School of Medicine, she participated in investigating the chemokine receptor CRCX4 gene mutations associated with WHIM syndrome. Currently, Baohua is working closely with Dr. Yinghua Ma and focusing on drug discovery targeting remyelination using organotypic cerebellar slice culture system.

I am a native of Trinidad and Tobago and New York City, I’m also a proud alumnus of Oberlin College and Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine.

‘Science drives medicine’, my creed, is what ultimately drove me to pursue my PhD in Immunology, focusing on MS. Between 2009 and 2015 (during my graduate tenure), was a period of tremendous change in the MS therapeutic landscape. Compared to 2009, today we have almost triple the number of disease modifying drug options for patients. With each new drug launch came increased efficacy and hope for those with the condition. Exciting times! However, these drugs primarily target the relapsing phase of MS (often by impacting the immune system). These drugs don’t specify the cause of MS (possibly allowing us to prevent new disease), nor do they clearly affect neurodegenerative aspects of disease (perhaps allowing us to limit progression and disability). In short, there are a number of major questions that remain which are key to improving patient quality of life or stopping MS altogether.

Yinghua received his B.S. in biochemistry and biochemical engineering. As a graduate in Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, he trained extensively in fields of molecular cell biology and neurobiology and earned a Ph.D. for his work on the function and property of GABA transporter, a crucial regulator of GABAergic synaptic transmission. His postdoctoral work with Dr. Timothy Vartanian at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center investigated innate immune regulation and novel signaling pathways of neurodegeneration. Specifically, Yinghua focused on how an evolutionarily conversed pattern recognition receptor family – Toll-like receptors is involved in shaping pathological processes of demyelination and remyelination. At Vartanian laboratory in Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Yinghua is particularly interested in understanding environmental triggers and underlying mechanisms of demyelinating diseases. His current work on modeling Multiple Sclerosis has the potential of discovering new targets for the treatment of this devastating disease.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Jennifer Linden entered the Vartanian Lab at Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University in 2012 as a postdoctoral fellow and focused on identifying the mechanisms of the newly forming MS lesion. Her work specifically focuses on what causes new MS lesions to form and how this affects the blood-brain barrier.

She was born in Denver, CO but grew up near Seattle, WA. She attended Willamette University in Salem, OR where she earned her BA in biology in 2004. She spent several years in San Diego, CA working in Biotech before returning to graduate school. She received her PhD in Pathobiology from Brown University in 2012. Her graduate work focused on host-pathogen interactions. Her work helped elucidate why premature infants are particularly susceptible to specific types of fungal infections.

Dr. Linden’s work in the Vartanian lab now focuses on how a bacterial toxin could be responsible for initiating new MS lesions to form. She is also particularly interested in understanding the mechanisms of blood-brain barrier dysfunction in MS, an essential, but still poorly understood pathological process in MS. By identifying the cause of new MS lesions and blood-brain barrier dysfunction, her ultimate goal is to develop treatments that would target these causes and prevent new MS lesions from occurring or progressing. Restoring healthy blood-brain barrier function will repair normal brain homeostasis and my aid in myelin regeneration.

During her time as a graduate student and as a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Linden has won several Student and Young Investigator Awards for her presentations and posters at various conferences.

Visiting Research Scholar/Postdoctoral Fellow

Seija Lehnardt entered the Vartanian lab at the Harvard Institutes of Medicine/Harvard Medical School to conduct her Thesis research as a Visiting Research Scholar from Humboldt University Berlin, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Seija was the first to show that Toll-Like Receptor 4 was expressed by microglia and that the TLR4 agonist, LPS, functioned to induce demyelination and neurodegeneration in the CNS through TLR4 activation in microglia. Her work led to a fundamental molecular and cellular understanding of how innate immunity functions to cause CNS injury.

Seija currently holds a Professorship in Neurodegeneration at the Institute of Cell Biology and Neurobiology, and the Department of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Her work covers the field of neuroimmunology and neurodegeneration with the following major areas:

• Cellular and molecular mechanisms of immune cell-mediated neuronal injury

• Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cell-autonomous neuronal injury

• Cellular and molecular mechanisms of CNS infections

• Innate immune receptors in CNS development

Her lab can be found at:

https://cbn.charite.de/forschung/groups/prof_dr_med_seija_lehnardt/

Kareem Rashid Rumah obtained his B.S. from Stanford University and his M.D., Ph.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College and Rockefeller University. His Ph.D. focused on identifying the potential link between Clostridium perfringens epsilon toxin and Multiple Sclerosis first hypothesized by Timothy Murrell in 1986. Rashid was the first to show that people with MS are more likely to harbor antibodies to epsilon toxin (11%) versus control subjects (1%). Rashid was also able to identify PCR based evidence for an epsilon toxin producing type B strain in the feces of an individual with highly active MS. These results were published in PLoS One in 2013. Rashid hypothesized that the Myelin and Lymphocyte Protein (MAL) was the epsilon toxin receptor and along with Yinghua Ma, Myat Lin Oo and Jennifer Linden, he found that MAL was necessary for both cellular binding and toxicity of epsilon toxin. This work was published in PLoS Pathogens in 2015. Rashid is now a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Vincent Fischetti at Rockefeller University where he continues to work on understanding the epsilon toxin-MAL interaction, and the relationship between epsilon toxin and MS.

Travelers Summer Research Fellowship

Claudia is from Laredo, TX and attended Barnard College at Columbia University where she majored in Neuroscience and Behavior. She won a Travelers Summer Research Fellowship from Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University and conducted a research project examining the effects of epsilon toxin on the blood-brain barrier in the Vartanian lab working closely with Jennifer Linden.

Visiting Research Scholar

Aidan obtained his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from Howard University in 2017 and was active in Howard University International Pals and the Howard University Caribbean Students Association

Postdoctoral Fellow

Jacob Sloane is a graduate of Harvard University and Boston University Medical School. His PhD in pathology was performed in Carmela Abraham’s laboratory at Boston University. He joined the Vartanian lab at Beth Israel Hospital/Harvard Medical School after completing his Neurology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Jacob was the first to show that hyaluronan functioned to inhibit CNS remyelination by activating Toll-Like Receptor 2 on oligodendrocyte progenitor cells and oligodendrocytes. This has important implication for regenerative failure in Multiple Sclerosis.

Jacob is currentkly an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School. His lab can be found at: http://www.bidmc.org/Research/Departments/Neurology/Laboratories/Jacob-Sloane-Laboratory.aspx

Postdoctoral Fellow

He received his medical degree from Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan. He did his internship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, followed by a Neurology Residency at the University of Chicago Medical Center. He then undertook research fellowships at the University of Chicago and at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School.

Amyn’s current research interests include investigation of growth factor signaling pathways in glioblastoma and other cancers. His work has elucidated the interaction between normal and mutant epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) in glioblastoma. He is currently a Professor of Neurology at the University of Texas Southwestern.

https://profiles.utsouthwestern.edu/profile/61448/amyn-habib.html

Research Technician