Neuroseminar Announcements

Dr. Sharon Gerecht · Distinguished Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University

Dr. Gerecht is the Paul M. Gross Distinguished Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. An internationally recognized pioneer in stem cell and vascular biology and engineering, her research centers on understanding how a tissue’s microenvironment regulates its response, with the long-term goal of developing countermeasures and therapeutics. Her lab simulates mechanical and physical stressors to understand blood vessel function, resilience, and homeostasis, thereby revealing pathways involved in injury, aging, and disease and informing tissue healing and regeneration. Dr. Gerecht joined Duke in 2022 and served as the Associate Dean for Research and Infrastructure at the Pratt School of Engineering until 2024. Before coming to Duke, Dr. Gerecht held the Edward J. Schaefer Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and served as the director of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT) at Johns Hopkins University. She began her tenure at Johns Hopkins in 2007 after completing her postdoctoral training at MIT. Dr. Gerecht is the recipient of the Allan C. Davis Medal from the Maryland Academy of Sciences (2008), the North America Vascular Biology Organization Junior Investigator Award (2009), the Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Award from the March of Dimes Foundation (2009-2011), the National Scientist Development Award (2008-2012) and Established Investigator Award (2014-2019) both from the American Heart Association, the National Science Foundation CAREER award (2011-2016), the W.W. Smith Charitable Trust Heart award (2014-2017), the Johns Hopkins University Inaugural President’s Frontier Award (2015), and the Florence R. Sabin Award from the North America Vascular Biology Organization (2026). Dr. Gerecht is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2016), the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (2020), the National Academy of Inventors (2020), and the American Heart Association (2024). She is an elected Member of the National Academy of Medicine (2019) and an author of more than 200 papers, book chapters, and patents in her field. About the Seminar Blood vessel differentiation, morphogenesis, and homeostasis occur in a complex and dynamic environment. Consequently, the microenvironment is vital for vascular development and repair but can be disrupted by injury or disease. Understanding how this environment affects cellular decisions can lead to better models that replicate healthy and diseased vessels, as well as strategies to prevent deterioration and promote regeneration. In this presentation, I will discuss recent findings on how microenvironmental signals and pathways regulate vascular differentiation, assembly, and function. Our goal is to develop microphysiological blood vessel models to improve understanding of their roles in tissue health, aging, disease, and healing.

Nami McCarty, Ph.D. Professor, Annie · Professor, Annie and Bob Graham Distinguished Chair in Stem Cell Biology Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM) The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Devika Shukla · Student, Department of Neurological Surgery, Jae Lee Lab

Summary: Neurons and axons of the central nervous system (CNS) cannot regenerate or navigate their growth after traumatic injury due to intrinsic limitations and extrinsic barriers. Following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), there is an immense deposition of lipid and cellular debris, immune infiltration, the glial/fibrotic scars, and lipid-laden macrophages, which all contribute to this non-permissive environment for regeneration. While prior research has focused on how lipid-laden “foamy” macrophages in the injury core impede regeneration, our novel data demonstrates that reactive astrocytes bordering the lesion also accumulate lipids and become foamy. These foamy astrocytes adopt a distinct reactive, non-inflammatory phenotype that supports neurite outgrowth in vitro. However, the mechanisms regulating astrocytic lipid handling and their contributions to repair and regeneration after SCI remain unknown.

Claudio Tatsui, M.D. · Professor, Department of Neurosurgery , MD Anderson Cancer Center

Manuela Aramburu Berckemeyer, M.D. · Research Associate Department of Neurological Surgery Section of Virology and Immunotherapy

Her research in Dr. Shah’s laboratory focuses on the HUSH complex, an epigenetic silencer that keeps glioblastoma (GBM) immunologically “cold” and resistant to immunotherapy. She is investigating whether blocking HUSH can reactivate silenced genetic elements, triggering a “viral mimicry” immune response that makes GBM more susceptible to immunotherapy. Her work explores this approach using a novel HUSH-complex small-molecule inhibitor and innovative virotherapies.

Anthony M. DiGiorgio, DO, MHA, FAANS · Assistant Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery- University of California, San Francisco