Hope Center Members

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Our Team

The diverse laboratories that make up the Hope Center represent scientists and physician scientists on the Medical and Danforth campuses of Washington University.  In addition to the Principal Investigator of each laboratory, there are graduate students, postdocs, technicians, and others, more than 650 investigators in total, who ensure that research moves forward.

  • Dana Abendschein, PhD

    Associate Professor of Internal Medicine

    Safe, Effective Treatment of Thrombosis and Vascular Injury Read More

  • Beau Ances MD, PhD, MSc

    Daniel J. Brennan, MD Professor of Neurology

    Therapeutic Strategies for HIV Associated Neurocognitive Impairment Read More

  • John Atkinson, MD

    Samuel B. Grant Professor of Medicine

    Further define the etiopathogenesis and clinical course of TREX-1 vasculopathy and develop a treatment/cure for this 100% penetrant autosomal dominant lethal disease with middle age onset. Read More

  • Yuna Ayala, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, St. Louis University

    Role of RNA processing and TDP-43 function in neurodegeneration Read More

  • Randall Bateman, MD

    Charles F. and Joanne Knight Distinguished Professor of Neurology

    Alzheimer’s Disease: Pathophysiology, biomarkers, predictive diagnostics and treatments Read More

  • Philip Bayly, PhD

    Lilyan and E. Lisle Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering

    Biomechanical factors in traumatic injury to the brain and spinal cord Read More

  • Mikhail Berezin, PhD

    Associate Professor of Radiology

    Design and application of optical contrast agents and imaging spectroscopy for medical diagnostics and clinical treatments Read More

  • Kendall Blumer, PhD

    Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology

    Signal transduction in the cardiovascular, nervous and visual systems

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  • Azad Bonni, MD, PhD

    Edison Professor of Neurobiology

    Identifying key mechanisms and principles that govern neuronal connectivity in brain development and disease Read More

  • Thomas Burris, PhD

    Alumni Endowed Professor and Vice President of Research at St. Louis College of Pharmacy

    Pharmacology and chemical biology of nuclear receptors (NRs) Read More

  • Yu-Qing Cao, PhD

    Associate Professor of Anesthesiology

    Voltage-gated calcium channel, synaptic transmission and pathophysiology of migraine headache

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  • Anil Cashikar, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

    Oxysterols in Alzheimer’s disease Read More

  • Valeria Cavalli, PhD

    Associate Professor of Neuroscience

    Molecular, cellular and epigenetic mechanisms regulating axon regeneration Read More

  • Marina Cella, MD

    Professor of Pathology & Immunology

    Understanding immune responses in health and disease Read More

  • Hong Chen, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Radiation Oncology

    Developing innovative focused ultrasound techniques to understand brain function and improve the diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases Read More

  • Zhou-Feng Chen, PhD

    Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Professor of Anesthesiology

    Molecular and cellular mechanisms of itch sensation

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  • Milan G Chheda, MD

    Assistant Professor of Medicine and Neurology

    Chromatin regulation and its role in maintaining tumor initiation cells and normal neural stem cells Read More

  • John Cirrito, PhD

    Associate Professor of Neurology

    Relationship between synaptic activity and amyloid-beta metabolism in Alzheimer’s disease Read More

  • Sharlee Climer, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of Missouri – St. Louis

    Development of combinatorial methods for the identification of patterns in genetic data Read More

  • Marco Colonna, MD

    Robert Rock Belliveau MD Professor of Pathology and Immunology

    Innate immune responses in neurodegeneration Read More

  • Joseph Corbo, MD, PhD

    Professor of Pathology & Immunology

    Transcriptional regulatory networks in photoreceptor development, evolution, and disease Read More

  • Meaghan Creed, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology

    Neuromodulation of neural circuit function Read More

  • Anne Cross, MD

    Professor of Neurology

    Neuroimmunology related to multiple sclerosis Read More

  • Carlos Cruchaga, PhD

    Associate Professor of Psychiatry

    Second-generation sequencing technology to identify rare variants implicated in neurodegenerative diseases Read More

  • Jianmin Cui, PhD

    Professor of Biomedical Engineering

    Molecular basis of bioelectricity and related diseases in nervous and cardiovascular systems; ion channel function and modulation; discovery of drugs that target ion channels Read More

  • Ralph Dacey, MD

    Henry G & Edith Schwartz Professor of Neurosurgery

    Regulatory mechanisms of the cerebrovascular microcirculation Read More

  • Gus Davis, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neurology

    Understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of protein aggregation and neurodegeneration in Parkinson disease and dementia with Lewy bodies Read More

  • Marc Diamond, MD

    Adjunct Professor of Neurology

    Therapeutic Mechanisms in Human Disease: Polyglutamine Disease Pathogensis and Protein Misfolding in Tauopathy Read More

  • Aaron DiAntonio, MD, PhD

    Alan A and Edith L Wolff Professor of Developmental Biology

    Axonal biology in development and disease Read More

  • Krikor Dikranian, MD, PhD

    Professor of Neuroscience

    Neurodegeneration in the developing and mature brain Read More

  • Abhinav Diwan, MD

    Associate Professor of Medicine

    Regulation of Lysosome function in Cellular Physiology and Pathology Read More

  • Gerald Dorn, MD

    Philip & Sima K Needleman Professor of Medicine

    Pink-parkin signaling and mitochondrial quality control Read More

  • Nico Dosenbach, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Pediatric Neurology

    Understanding use-driven brain network plasticity in children with brain injury, in order to develop novel neurorehabilitative treatments Read More

  • Joseph Dougherty, PhD

    Associate Professor of Genetics

    Identification of genes and cell types responsible for neurological disorders in humans Read More

  • Gavin Dunn, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery

    Develop novel translational efforts in malignant brain tumors Read More

  • Alex Evers, MD

    Henry E Mallinckrodt Professor of Anesthesiology

    Molecular mechanisms of anesthetics in the nervous system Read More

  • Anne Fagan, PhD

    Professor of Neurology

    Cerebrospinal fluid and plasma biomarkers of early stage Alzheimer’s Disease Read More

  • Carl Frieden, PhD

    Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics

    Protein folding, structure Read More

  • Harrison Gabel, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

    Exploration of functions for neuron-specific regulators of gene expression, leveraging genes and mechanisms implicated in human neurologic disease to point us toward critical pathways in the brain Read More

  • Gilbert Gallardo, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neurology

    Discovering mechanisms of neurodegeneration for potential therapeutic intervention Read More

  • Stefanie Geisler, MD

    Assistant Professor of Neurology

    Mechanisms of axonal degeneration in peripheral neuropathies Read More

  • Robert Gereau, PhD

    Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology

    Roles of mGluRs in pain plasticity Read More

  • Brian Gordon, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Radiology

    Using in vivo neuroimaging and biofluid measurements in humans to better understand the pathophysiology of Alzheimer disease Read More

  • Jeffrey Gordon, MD

    Dr Robert J Glaser Distinguished University Professor

    Gut microbiota immaturity in undernutrition and its effects on brain development
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  • Christina Gurnett, MD, PhD

    A Ernest & Jane G Stein Professor of Developmental Neurology

    Genetic basis of epilepsy Read More

  • David H Gutmann, MD, PhD

    Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor of Neurology

    Using mouse models to understand normal brain and brain tumor development Read More

  • Dennis Hallahan, MD

    Elizabeth H and James S McDonnell III Distinguished Professor of Medicine

    The mechanisms of cell death in normal tissues during cancer therapy Read More

  • Edward Han, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

    Identifying the role of neurotoxic protein aggregates on neuronal network activity and cell health using in vivo imaging Read More

  • Oscar Harari, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

    Identification of “omics” (proteomic, transcriptomic and genetic) factors associated with neurodegeneration Read More

  • Charles Harris, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Medicine

    Molecular effects of the glucocorticoid stress hormones Read More

  • Tamara Hershey, PhD

    Professor of Psychiatry

    Clinical and cognitive neuroscience Read More

  • Erik Herzog, PhD

    Professor of Biology

    Molecular mechanism of circadian rhythms Read More

  • Didier Hodzic, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences

    Role of LINC complexes (Linkers of the Nucleoskeleton to the Cytoskeleton) in nucleokinesis and neuronal migration Read More

  • David Holtzman, MD

    Andrew B & Gretchen P Jones Professor of Neurology

    Cellular/Molecular/Biomarker studies of Alzheimer’s Disease and neonatal brain injury Read More

  • Timothy Holy, PhD

    Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Neuroscience

    Neural mechanisms of pheromone detection, recognition, and olfactory learning; novel optical methods for recording neuronal activity Read More

  • Shin-ichiro Imai, MD, PhD

    Professor of Developmental Biology

    Understanding the molecular mechanism of aging and longevity in mammals Read More

  • Meredith Jackrel, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Chemistry

    Engineering and applying protein-remodeling factors to counter neurodegenerative disease Read More

  • Mark Jacquin, PhD

    Professor of Neurology

    Molecular mechanisms of mammalian sensory system development, plasticity and repair Read More

  • Sanjay Jain, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Medicine

    GFL-Ret mediated mechanisms in the development, repair and regeneration of the nervous and urogenital systems Read More

  • Laura Jansen, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Neurology

    Basic and translational research on conditions that cause epilepsy, autism, and brain malformations in children Read More

  • Yo-El Ju, MD

    Assistant Professor of Neurology

    Sleep and neurological diseases Read More

  • Celeste Karch, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

    Molecular mechanisms underlying tauopathies Read More

  • Daniel Kerschensteiner, MD

    Associate Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences

    Neural circuit assembly and visual processing in the retina Read More

  • Albert Kim, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Neurosurgery

    Signaling pathways in brain development and malignant brain tumors Read More

  • Robyn Klein, MD, PhD

    Professor of Medicine

    Cellular and molecular studies of viral and autoimmune encephalitides Read More

  • Vitaly Klyachko, PhD

    Associate Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology and Biomedical Engineering

    Understanding the synaptic basis for neural plasticity with the goal of understanding how neural circuits analyze information Read More

  • Paul Kotzbauer, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Neurology

    Mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease and related disorders Read More

  • Kristen Kroll, PhD

    Associate Professor of Developmental Biology

    Transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of neural development Read More

  • Terrance Kummer, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neurology

    Mechanisms of neuronal injury in acute brain trauma Read More

  • Jin-Moo Lee, MD, PhD

    Norman J. Stupp Professor of Neurology

    Understanding Mechanisms of Neurologic Disease Read More

  • Eric Lenze, MD

    Professor of Psychiatry

    Treatment of anxiety disorders and depression in older adults Read More

  • Mingjie Li, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Neurology

    Developing viral vectors for applications in neuroscience Read More

  • David Limbrick, MD, PhD

    Professor of Neurosurgery

    Neuronal membrane physiology, patch-clamp electrophysiology, CSF proteomics, hydrocephalus, neuroprosthetics, brain tumor biology Read More

  • Brendan Lucey, MD

    Assistant Professor of Neurology

    Understanding the relationship between sleep, the amyloid beta diurnal pattern, and Alzheimer’s disease Read More

  • Susan Mackinnon, MD

    Sydney M & Robert H Shoenberg Professor of Surgery

    Allograft and the effects of GDNF on Peripheral Nerve Regeneration Read More

  • Moe Mahjoub, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Medicine

    Mechanisms of cell-cell signaling in normal development and neurodegenerative disease Read More

  • Soe Soe Mar, MD

    Professor of Neurology

    Pediatric multiple sclerosis and other white matter diseases, and pediatric migraine Read More

  • James (Pat) McAllister, PhD

    Professor of Neurosurgery

    Improving clinical treatments for hydrocephalus Read More

  • Robert Mecham, PhD

    Alumni Endowed Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology

    Cell-matrix interactions, extracellular matrix and development, vascular development and disease Read More

  • Steven Mennerick, PhD

    Professor of Psychiatry

    Physiology of glutamate and GABA neurotransmission in the CNS Read More

  • Jeffrey Milbrandt, MD, PhD

    James S McDonnell Professor of Genetics

    Axonal degeneration, regulation of myelination, neuronal energetics and mitochondrial function in neuropathy and neurodegenerative disease Read More

  • Timothy Miller, MD, PhD

    David Clayson Professor of Neurology

    New, effective, and safe treatments for neurodegenerative diseases Read More

  • Jeffrey Millman, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering

    Large-scale culture of human stem cells in reactors, producing billions of cells in small clusters Read More

  • Liviu Mirica, PhD

    Professor of Chemistry

    Development of therapeutic and imaging chemical agents for Alzheimer’s disease; Design of specific inhibitors of histone demethylases Read More

  • Rob Mitra, PhD

    Alvin Goldfarb Professor of Computational Biology

    Technology development for functional genomics and systems biology Read More

  • John Morris, MD

    Harvey A & Dorismae Hacker Friedman Distinguished Professor of Neurology

    Establishing phenotypes for inherited forms of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias Read More

  • Erik Musiek, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neurology

    Aging, oxidative stress, and circadian clock genes in neurodegenerative diseases Read More

  • Jeanne Nerbonne, PhD

    Alumni Endowed Professor of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology in Developmental Biology and Internal Medicine

    Molecular mechanisms controlling the regulation and dysregulation of membrane excitability in the cardiovascular and nervous systems Read More

  • Colin Nichols, PhD

    Carl Cori Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology

    Biology of ion channels, with emphasis on the molecular basis of potassium channel activity, and the role of potassium channels in physiology and disease Read More

  • Karen O’Malley, PhD

    Professor of Neuroscience

    Mechanisms underlying the specification, regulation and neurodegeneration of dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems Read More

  • David Ornitz, MD, PhD

    Alumni Endowed Professor of Developmental Biology

    Neuronal development, regeneration, physiology Read More

  • Daniel Ory, MD

    Alan A and Edith L Wolff Distinguished Professor of Medicine

    Molecular basis of Niemann-Pick C disease and the regulation of NPC1 and NPC2 genes in cholesterol homeostasis Read More

  • Thomas Papouin, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

    Mechanisms of neuron-glia interactions in health and disease Read More

  • Rohit Pappu, PhD

    Edwin H. Murty Professor of Engineering

    Mechanisms of aggregation and neurodegeneration in polyglutamine expansion disorders, specifically Huntington’s disease Read More

  • Steven Paul, MD

    Professor of Psychiatry

    Understanding how apoE contributes to the clearance and metabolism of Aβ in Alzheimer’s disease Read More

  • David Perlmutter, MD

    Professor of Pediatrics, Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and Dean

    Cellular mechanisms to clear misfolded proteins, and therapies to minimize toxicity by stimulating degradation of misfolded proteins Read More

  • Joel Perlmutter, MD

    Elliot Stein Professor of Neurology

    Pharmacology, physiology and pathophysiology of basal ganglia and movement disorders Read More

  • Richard Perrin, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Pathology & Immunology

    Novel cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers for early diagnosis, prognosis, and staging of neurodegenerative diseases
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  • Alan Pestronk, MD

    Professor of Neurology

    Diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment of immune, hereditary and degenerative neuromuscular disorders Read More

  • Steve Petersen, PhD

    James S McDonnell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience

    Behavioral and fMRI studies of attention and cognitive development Read More

  • Laura Piccio, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Neurology

    Induction and regulation of adaptive autoimmune responses in Multiple Sclerosis Read More

  • Nicola Pozzi, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, St. Louis University

    Molecular mechanisms of thrombosis and immunothrombosis Read More

  • Brad Racette, MD

    Robert Allan Finke Professor of Neurology

    Environmental epidemiology of Parkinson disease Read More

  • Marcus Raichle, MD

    Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Medicine

    Functional brain imaging with positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance Read More

  • Wilson (Zack) Ray, MD

    Associate Professor of Neurosurgery

    Development of innovative technology targeting neuroprosthetic interfaces Read More

  • Joshua Rubin, MD, PhD

    Professor of Pediatrics

    Biology and treatment of pediatric brain tumors Read More

  • Daniela Salvemini, PhD

    Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology, Saint Louis University

    A translational bench to bedside approach towards the discovery of novel analgesics Read More

  • Mark Sands, PhD

    Professor of Medicine

    Pathophysiology and novel therapies for lysosomal storage diseases Read More

  • Anneliese Schaefer, JD, PhD

    Professor of Neurology

    Hope Center Executive Director Read More

  • Erica Scheller, DDS, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Medicine

    Impact of neuroendocrine signals on bone loss and marrow adiposity in diseases including periodontitis, arthritis, and diabetes Read More

  • Bradley Schlaggar, MD, PhD

    Adjunct Professor of Neurology

    The development and plasticity of human cognition and language Read More

  • Robert Schmidt, MD, PhD

    Professor of Pathology & Immunology

    Pathogenetic mechanisms of diabetic and age-related autonomic neuropathy Read More

  • Lori Setton, PhD

    Lucy & Stanley Lopata Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering

    Combines methods of engineering & biology to regulate disc and cartilage health and healing Read More

  • James Skeath, PhD

    Professor of Genetics

    Genetic analysis of neural and muscular development in the Drosophila embryo Read More

  • Joy Snider, MD, PhD

    Professor of Neurology

    Mechanisms of protein degradation and intracellular calcium homeostasis in neurodegenerative disorders Read More

  • Alison Snyder-Warwick, MD

    Assistant Professor of Surgery

    Investigating the interface between nerve and muscle Read More

  • Sheng-Kwei (Victor) Song, PhD

    Professor of Radiology

    Development of non-invasive imaging of central nervous system white matter Read More

  • William Spees, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Radiology

    White-matter diffusion fMRI Read More

  • Jennifer Strahle, MD

    Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery

    Pathophysiology of brain injury and hydrocephalus after neonatal intraventricular hemorrhage Read More

  • Paul Taghert, PhD

    Professor of Neuroscience

    Circadian neurobiology and developmental neurobiology Read More

  • Liu Lin Thio, MD, PhD

    Professor of Neurology

    Glycine receptors in the central nervous system Read More

  • Heather True, PhD

    Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology

    Protein misfolding and aggregation of prion proteins Read More

  • Fumihiko Urano, MD, PhD

    Samuel E Schechter Professor of Medicine

    Patient-based therapeutic development for Wolfram syndrome, the link between endoplasmic reticulum and neurodegeneration Read More

  • Gregory Van Stavern, MD

    Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences

    Neuro-inflammation in patients with optic neuritis (ON) affects neuronal activity within visual pathways Read More

  • Andrei Vlassenko, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Radiology

    Advanced neuroimaging techniques in aging and neurodegenerative disorders Read More

  • Yong Wang, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology

    Developing and applying MRI methods for quantification of pathological changes in neurodegeneration diseases Read More

  • Conrad (Chris) Weihl, MD, PhD

    Professor of Neurology

    Protein degradation pathways and their relation to aging, muscle weakness and neurodegeneration Read More

  • Michael Wong, MD, PhD

    Allen P. and Josephine B. Green Professor of Pediatric Neurology

    Cellular mechanisms of epileptogenesis and seizure-induced brain injury Read More

  • Matthew Wood, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Surgery

    Development of therapeutics and diagnostics for peripheral nerve injuries Read More

  • David Wozniak, PhD

    Professor of Psychiatry

    Role of NMDA receptors in neuropathologic changes and cognitive decline Read More

  • Gregory Wu, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neurology

    Antigen presentation and inflammation in the central nervous system Read More

  • Dmitriy Yablonskiy, PhD

    Professor of Radiology

    Quantitative Neuroimaging: A Bridge between Brain Tissue Cellular Structure and Function Read More

  • Qin Yang, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology

    Understand neural cell reprogramming/regeneration and generate “safe” neural cells for neurological disorder treatment Read More

  • Hiroko Yano, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery

    Molecular pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases; Epigenetic regulation of gene expression in Huntington’s disease Read More

  • Jason Yi, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

    Protein turnover in the nervous system: ubiquitin ligase UBE3A Read More

  • Andrew Yoo, PhD

    Associate Professor of Developmental Biology

    MicroRNA-mediated neuronal reprogramming and chromatin remodeling Read More

  • Weixiong Zhang, PhD

    Professor of Computer Science & Engineering

    Whole transcriptions modeling and analysis in neurodegenerative diseases Read More

  • Gregory Zipfel, MD

    Professor of Neurosurgery

    Role of cerebral amyloid angiopathy on cerebral blood flow, cerebral ischemia, cerebral hemorrhage, and dementia; Pathophysiology and novel therapeutic approaches for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage Read More

  • Charles Zorumski, MD

    Samuel B Guze Professor & Chair of Psychiatry

    Modulation of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission Read More